A British soldier guards Iraqi PoWs amid charges of torture and maltreatment

LONDON, June 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As questions marks are raised on the behavior of British and U.S. troops as regards the maltreatment of Iraqi PoWs, the British military police have opened an investigation into the deaths of two Iraqi men in British custody and the reported beating of other prisoners, a leading British newspaper said Wednesday, June 4.

"There is an investigation by the Special Investigation Branch. Any death in custody is looked into as a matter of course," The Daily Mail quoted a Ministry of Defense spokeswoman as saying.

It is understood the men were in the custody of soldiers from Britain 's Black Watch regiment and died in separate incidents on May 13 and May 18, the spokeswoman added.

Meanwhile, two British soldiers were ordered out of Iraq after charges that prisoners of war were beaten up, the Ministry of Defense spokeswoman said.

She did not reveal where the assault is alleged to have taken place, but said: "We can confirm that an alleged incident has been reported involving the beating of Iraqi PoWs.

"We would take a very dim view of poor treatment of PoWs and if the case is found to be answered, we will act accordingly,” vowed the spokeswoman.

The British soldiers, whose regiment has not been revealed, were thought to have been flown to their barracks in Germany .

“The two soldiers have been returned to barracks pending an investigation,” she said.

The Mail learnt that the charges involved a prisoner's face being punched, resulting in a black eye.

The charges came days after the defense ministry said military police had questioned a British soldier in custody after photographs emerged showing troops “torturing" Iraqi prisoners of war.

A photographic developer in England called police after growing suspicion about a number of pictures on a roll of film that had been handed in to the shop for processing.

One of the images showed an Iraqi PoW gagged and bound, hanging in netting from a fork-lift truck driven by a British soldier.

Britain contributed 45,000 military personnel, a naval task force and more than 100 aircraft to the war, and British forces currently occupy the southern part of Iraq .

An investigation is already underway into charges that a colonel in the Royal Irish Regiment, Tim Collins, abused Iraqi PoWs and civilians.

Amnesty International said on May 16 that at least 20 Iraqi PoWs , including civilians, complained they had been tortured by British and U.S. occupation forces in central and southern Iraq .