Argentines hear new Falklands atrocity claims

FURTHER allegations of war crimes committed by British troops during the Falklands war have reportedly been made by an official Argentine inquiry, just days after Scotland Yard completed its investigation into the affair.

According to the Buenos Aires newspaper Clarin, the inquiry report, which has not yet been published, says that British soldiers executed wounded prisoners of war and used weapons banned by the Geneva convention.

The Clarin reports the inquiry as having heard testimony from four Argentine soldiers involved in the Mount Longdon battle in 1982. They alleged a number of atrocities.

Jose Carrizo, a former corporal, said British soldiers shot him in the head after he was taken prisoner. He was reported in British newspapers last November as saying that he did not want British soldiers put on trial.

Other former Argentine soldiers reportedly said that Argentine prisoners were forced to retrieve unexploded shells and that British jets dropped fragmentation bombs, which are banned under the terms of the Geneva convention.

The final report of the 16- month-long Scotland Yard investigation was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service a week ago.

The investigation followed publication of a book in 1991 by a former paratrooper, L/Cpl Vince Bramley, who fought at Mount Longdon. The book, Excursion to Hell, tells of British soldiers being involved in looting, mutilating enemy bodies and shooting prisoners of war.

Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP who first raised in the Commons the issue of alleged war crimes by British troops, said the Clarin report should be taken seriously: 'One cannot let sleeping dogs lie any longer, if these things are being spoken of widely. If this is said by serious people we have to get to the truth. The truth may be cleansing. The truth has to be laid bare if possible.'