UK forces based in Iraq backed the investigation into alleged abuse carried out by troops in Iraq two years ago, a military spokesman said yesterday.
The British military police probe was launched after the News of the World newspaper claimed to have received video footage allegedly showing British troops using their fists and batons to beat a group of young Iraqis.
"We condemn all acts of abuse and brutality," said Flight Lieutenant Chris Thomas, a British military spokesman in the southern city of Basra, where most of the more than 8,000 British troops in Iraq are based.
"We hope that the good relations that the multi-national forces have worked very hard to develop won't be adversely affected by this material," he said.
Thomas said the allegations relate "to only a tiny number of the 80,000 personnel that have served in Iraq."
The newspaper says the video was filmed in 2004 by a corporal who urged the soldiers on during the alleged attack caught on tape, which it claimed was passed on by a whistleblower, who they have refused to identify.
It was unclear how news of the video will impact upon relations between British troops in southern Iraq and locals. Thomas declined to provide details on which units were based in Basra two years ago.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS