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New Iraq abuse and torture claims hit British regiment
Two British newspapers today published new allegations accusing British soldiers in the Queen's Lancashire Regiment of systematically beating and abusing Iraqi detainees. For the third time in a week, the Daily Mirror tabloid published claims against British troops of the troubled regiment, this time saying its soldiers even made CDs of beatings to keep as souvenirs.
Two British newspapers today published new allegations accusing British soldiers in the Queen's Lancashire Regiment of systematically beating and abusing Iraqi detainees.
For the third time in a week, the Daily Mirror tabloid published claims against British troops of the troubled regiment, this time saying its soldiers even made CDs of beatings to keep as souvenirs.
Meanwhile, the Independent newspaper carried a separate allegation, this time from a former Iraqi prisoner who claimed he was beaten on the neck, chest and genitals by troops in the same regiment.
In what the newspaper claimed to be the first eyewitness account of abuse carried out by British soldiers, Kifah Talah, 44, was reportedly tortured and humiliated by up to eight soldiers at a time for three days.
The front page of Daily Mirror, one of Britain's most widely read tabloid newspapers carried a picture allegedly provided by a member of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, currently based in Cyprus.
The picture allegedly shows a soldier photographing a bound captive with bloodied teeth in the back of an armoured personnel carrier. "There are no rules out there," a man, known only as "Soldier D", was quoted as saying. "I saw the man dragged into the vehicle beaten up, kicked and punched. It lasted about a minute," he said. "I took the picture as I opened the doors of the vehicle and could see dirt on his shirt and blood on his teeth.
