British troops 'killed a PoW and mutilated bodies of Iraq rebels'

Other captives are also said to have been abused or tortured in the aftermath of a gun battle in southern Iraq in May 2004.

Details can be disclosed after the High Court lifted an order preventing reporting of the case yesterday.

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The allegations are among the most serious against British soldiers who served in Iraq. Relatives of those killed and survivors are fighting for compensation and for an

The incident is already being investigated by the Military Police.

The abuses are said to have taken place following a three-hour gun battle when soldiers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were ambushed by militiamen on the road from the hotspot town of Al Amara to Basra in May 2004.

The scene was close to Majar al-Kabir, where a year earlier an Iraqi mob overwhelmed and killed six British military policemen.

It is alleged that corpses were removed from the battlefield and showed signs of mutilation when they were left at a local hospital. It is also claimed that a prisoner died in custody and others were abused.

Lawyers say testimonies of five witnesses "combine to give a harrowing account of what took place".

The Military Police - the Redcaps - investigated the allegations in 2004, but found no evidence to support charges against UK soldiers.

The Defence Ministry has categorically denied that there was evidenceof wrongdoing and a Home Office pathologist who saw pictures of the bodies supported this.

Families of those who were killed or detained are fighting for a High Court judicial review into the way that inquiry was carried out.

They also lodged a fresh allegation before Christmas that one detainee was murdered. This prompted the Redcaps to reopen the case.

Allegations of mutilations - said to have taken place at the British base at Abu Naji - are contained in death certificates written by Dr Adel Salid Majid, the director of the hospital where the corpses were delivered.

He said that one 37-year-old man, Ali al Jemindari, had his right arm severed and an eye gouged out.

However, another doctor at the hospital said the injuries were consistent with a fierce gun battle.

Until it was lifted, the gagging order on the case prevented the Press from reporting any of the allegations made by the Iraqi familiesand those who say they were survivors of the abuse.

It was imposed last December by Lord Justice Thomas, who said "adverse publicity" arising from the civil High Court case would be "highly undesirable".

But another senior judge, Lord Justice Moses ruled there was "ample material" to support the proposition that the proceedings to be brought in the High Court should be in the public domain.