MoD inquiry into Iraqi boy's sex abuse claim

*Royal Military Police officers are investigating claims that an Iraqi boy of 14 was sexually abused by soldiers who made him perform a sex act on another prisoner, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday.

The allegations, highlighted in The Independent on Sunday, relate to the detention of suspected looters held by British forces in May 2003 at a base in southern Iraq called Camp Breadbasket.

Four British servicemen have already been jailed over photographs taken at the camp which showed troops beating prisoners who were tied up and forcing others to pose in sexually humiliating positions.

Mazin Younis, from the pressure group, the Iraqi League, told the BBC about the boy's claims. He said: "They were surrounded by British troops ... They were beaten, very harshly, using vehicle aerials. And they were guided inside the compound, where they were subjected to some horrific types of abuse. And there was continuous beating. But the worst of it was the sexual humiliation, which is something new, very new, to Iraqis."

Last week it emerged that the family of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi receptionist who died while being detained by UK troops in 2003, and nine other men who were allegedly mistreated will share £2.83m in compensation from the Ministry of Defence.