British soldiers executed up to 20 Iraqi detainees, say witnesses - 23 February 2008

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/british-soldiers-executed-up-to-20-iraqi-detainees-say-witnesses-786253.html

By Jerome Taylor
Saturday, 23 February 2008

British soldiers in Iraq may have tortured, mutilated and executed up to 20 Iraqi detainees four years ago, according to five Iraqi civilians who say they saw the murders.

Lawyers acting for the five men produced a dossier yesterday which alleges the British Army executed the detainees at the Abu Naji military base where they had been taken after a three-hour gun battle near the southern Iraqi town of Majat-al-Kabir in May 2004.

The allegations, which the Ministry of Defence strongly denies, first came to light four weeks after Mehdi Army militia ambushed British troops on a main highway between Baghdad and the southern city of Basra but this is the first time witnesses have come forward with allegations of an execution. snip

When the bodies were handed back to Iraqi medics a day later, however, a number of them showed what human rights activists have alleged were wounds inconsistent with battlefield injuries – including numerous close-range gun shots to the head and one man who had allegedly had his penis removed.

[truebrit71]

1. Jesus wept.

When will the madness end?

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R