LONDON, June 21: Military police are investigating claims that British soldiers mutilated the bodies of Iraqi guerillas after a firefight last month near the southern Iraqi town of Majar al Kabir.

The allegations are contained in official death certificates written by Dr Adel Salid Majid, the director of the hospital in Majar al Kabir, on May 15, the day after the battle.

Seven of the certificates state that corpses handed over to hospital authorities by British troops showed signs of "mutilation" and "torture". Dr Majid's conclusions have been questioned by a senior doctor at the Amara general hospital, 25kms to the north. Speaking anonymously to the Guardian, he disputed his colleagues' claims after examining one of the seven corpses in question.

The military police are studying photographs of the bodies, the original death certificates and part of a video film taken at Amara hospital by the relatives of the dead.

A spokesman for Britain's ministry of defence said: "The military police are looking at the evidence. They have yet to commence a formal investigation." A British army spokesman in Basra dismissed the allegations of mutilation as "absurd."

"Such claims are an insult to the whole British army and an attempt to stain the image of men who are putting their lives at risk every day to secure Iraq for the Iraqis," he said.

The Guardian has seen 28 death certificates, which were completed by doctors at Majar al Kabir hospital on May 14 and 15. A 29th victim of the firefight, a shepherd, died of his wounds.

Most certificates list wounds that would seem consistent with a fierce firefight that is known to have taken place on the afternoon of May 14. On one of the seven death certificates in question, Ahmad al Helfi, a 19-year-old casual labourer, is described as having "several bullet injuries to the body, with blueness of the left eye and a cut- wound by a sharp tool on the right arm.

In addition, there are signs of beating and torturing all over the body." Hamed al Suadi, 19, is recorded as having "bullet wounds to the neck and the foot. There are signs of torture: the right arm is fractured and there is full distortion of the face".

Another, Ali al Jemindari, 37, had "several bullet injuries in head, face and the body, with slash marks on the neck. The right arm has been severed at the shoulder. There is a large opening in the right cheek and the removal by gouging of the right eye."

The brother of Mr Al Jemindari claims that the eyeball was subsequently found in the dead man's pocket. Dr Majid said: "On May 15, the police came and asked us to send ambulances to the British base to collect some bodies. When they brought the 22 bodies, it was a surprise to us to see some of these bodies mutilated and tortured. -Dawn/The Guardian News Service.