The allegations concern events that took place in the southern Iraqi town of Majar-al-Kabir on May 14, 2004, when British forces fought an intense gun battle with insurgents.

The Ministry of Defence says that around 28 Iraqis were killed in the fighting and that nine others were detained.

But lawyers, basing their evidence on witness statements, death certificates and video footage shot by relatives of the victims, allege that 22 people were killed while in British custody and that nine survived torture and abuse.

"This incident, if proven, is off the scale for abuse committed by either British or American troops serving in Iraq," lawyer Phil Shiner told Reuters.

"If these harrowing allegations are proven, then you'd be pushed to be able to put it in context -- it would be the worst conduct by the British army in the last 100 years."

The British Military Police conducted an investigation in 2004 into the allegations, first made by the victims' families, but found "no evidence of wrongful deaths in custody, torture or mutilation of bodies," an MoD spokesman said on Friday.

But following a request by the families for a judicial review, another Military Police investigation has since been launched, the MoD said. That inquiry, which covers "essentially the same ground", was launched in December, the MoD said. It is not known when it will be completed.

HEYET Net- Reuters