London:
According to Britain's Ministry of Defence, Iraqi civilians who were detained by British troops during the US-led war have levelled 33 allegations of rape and abuse against both male and female soldiers.
The rape, torture and physical assault allegations come in the wake of the British withdrawal from Iraq.
One claimant has said that he was raped by two British soldiers while another claimed he was sexually humiliated by both male and female personnel. Others alleged they were stripped naked and photographed in the same style as the notorious pictures at Abu Ghraib, where abuses of prisoners by US troops helped fuel anti-American sentiment.
British soldiers have faced a series of claims that they mistreated Iraqi civilians in southern Iraq during six years of combat operations.
Last year, Britain settled a legal case involving the death of one Iraqi civilian, and the abuse of nine others, paying out nearly 3 million pounds in compensation.
A public inquiry is still under way into the death of hotel worker Baha Mousa. He died in the custody of British troops following a raid on his hotel in the southern Iraq city of Basra in 2003 and suffered 93 separate injuries.
British Cpl. Donald Payne pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians in Britain's first war crimes conviction.
The rape, torture and physical assault allegations come in the wake of the British withdrawal from Iraq.
One claimant has said that he was raped by two British soldiers while another claimed he was sexually humiliated by both male and female personnel. Others alleged they were stripped naked and photographed in the same style as the notorious pictures at Abu Ghraib, where abuses of prisoners by US troops helped fuel anti-American sentiment.
British soldiers have faced a series of claims that they mistreated Iraqi civilians in southern Iraq during six years of combat operations.
Last year, Britain settled a legal case involving the death of one Iraqi civilian, and the abuse of nine others, paying out nearly 3 million pounds in compensation.
A public inquiry is still under way into the death of hotel worker Baha Mousa. He died in the custody of British troops following a raid on his hotel in the southern Iraq city of Basra in 2003 and suffered 93 separate injuries.
British Cpl. Donald Payne pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians in Britain's first war crimes conviction.
