SEVERAL soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Light Infantry were being interrogated last night at their barracks at Paderborn, Germany, in connection with a videoed assault on Iraqi youths inside a British military compound in January 2004.
A corporal from the same regiment was arrested in Britain by the Royal Military Police. Defence sources said that he was “the voiceover” for the video of the attack on the Iraqis that was taken from a building in al-Amarah. The Ministry of Defence said that no one had been charged. But government legal sources said that because the beatings took place inside the British compound, any charges could relate to abuse of human rights under the Geneva Convention.
The MoD said that investigations with the 1st Battalion The Light Infantry (1 LI) were continuing to “identify all personnel involved in the video”.
The ministry added that the Royal Military Police investigation “into these extremely serious allegations” was still at an early stage, and was its “top priority”.
“We condemn all acts of abuse and brutality and have always treated any allegations of wrongdoing brought to our attention extremely seriously,” the MoD said.
Advertisement
Government legal sources said that one of the most alarming features of the video, which had been passed to the News of the World, was the apparent indifference to the beatings shown by other soldiers passing by at the time.
The MoD said that the whole of the 1st Battalion The Light Infantry was subject to the investigation, indicating that Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Pointing, then the commanding officer, would be included.
The naming of the regiment, allegedly responsible for the attacks, came after an examination by the Royal Military Police Special Investigations Branch of the battalion’s logs during its tour of duty in Iraq.
The log for January 10 and 11, 2004, describes how the regiment was involved “in running battles with hundreds of stone-throwing Iraqis, when tension flared in southern Iraq. The protests saw six protesters shot dead”. The demonstrations began after 11,000 people turned up to register for 2,500 manual labouring jobs in al-Amarah.
Another part reads: “People demanding jobs tried to rush the soldiers who were guarding the city hall in al-Amarah. However, the soldiers of the battalion, wielding batons and shields, drove them back from their compound. One or possibly two of the six people killed on Saturday, all Iraqi civilians, were shot by British troops.”
Advertisement
It adds: “The men from 1 LI opened fire when grenades were hurled at them by screaming protesters, some armed with sticks and shovels, who rushed in waves against the city hall.”
The area where the Light Infantry battle group had responsibility was the size of Northern Ireland and included part of the Iran/Iraq border. Serving with the Light Infantry soldiers were troops from The Queen’s Royal Hussars.
Major Johnny Scott, of the Queen’s Royal Hussars, is quoted in the log as praising the troops for their professionalism in a “potentially difficult situation”.
Martin Webster, a corporal with 1st Battalion The Light Infantry, was one of the soldiers being questioned over the video. The BBC said yesterday that he had shown it a similar video two years ago. This video, which was accompanied by the music of Wagner instead of a voiceover, showed British soldiers chasing Iraqi youths, but the footage ended as they headed back to their compound with the youths.
So far there has been no violent response in Iraq to the video.