Al-Sweady Inquiry: UK army murder claims 'deliberate lies'

Allegations of murder and torture made against British soldiers by Iraqi detainees were "deliberate lies", a five-year public inquiry has ruled.

The £31m Al-Sweady Inquiry found claims that up to 20 Iraqis were killed and mutilated after a 2004 battle were "reckless speculation".

The murder allegations were withdrawn from the inquiry earlier this year.

The report also found British soldiers mistreated nine Iraqi detainees, but it was not deliberate ill-treatment.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the inquiry "puts to rest once and for all these shocking and, as we now know, completely baseless allegations".

Inquiry chairman Sir Thayne Forbes said the "most serious allegations" which "have been hanging over these soldiers for the past 10 years" have been found to be "without foundation."

A Number 10 spokesman said: "Where there are allegations of mistreatment, it is right and proper we look into and learn lessons from the past."

Mr Fallon said the inquiry - set up in 2009 - has cost the taxpayer £31m.

'Exemplary courage'

The hearing took evidence about the actions of soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, who were ambushed by insurgents, leading to a three-hour gun battle that became known as the Battle of Danny Boy.

Sir Thayne, a former High Court judge, found there had been instances of ill-treatment during "tactical questioning" of the detainees at Camp Abu Naji, near Majar-al-Kabir in southern Iraq, on the night of 14 May.

These included blindfolding the prisoners, depriving them of food and sleep and using threatening interrogation techniques contrary to the Geneva Convention.

But Sir Thayne said Iraqi detainees who alleged they were tortured and abused - and subjected to mock executions - had given evidence that was "unprincipled in the extreme" and "wholly without regard to the truth".

BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said anger - as well as a sense of vindication - would be felt inside the Ministry of Defence and the Army.

Sir Thayne Forbes said there had been no deliberate ill-treatment of detainees

The report said that soldiers responded to the ambush with "exemplary courage, resolution and professionalism" but that the conduct of some individual soldiers, and some of the procedures of the military, "fell below the high standards normally to be expected of the British army".

It found that:

• The detainees should have been given some privacy while being strip-searched and should have been given proper food when they were first detained
• They should not have been deprived of sleep before they were questioned or shouted at during interrogation
• They were deprived of sight by being made to wear blacked-out goggles for prolonged periods when this had no security purpose

It also described as "ill treatment" an interrogator banging a tent peg on a table and walking around a blindfolded detainee blowing on the back of his neck.

It is understood that the former Iraqi detainees - who are now known to have been armed insurgents at the time - will not pursue claims of compensation