IRAQ: Danish army medics in Iraq saw two prisoners at a British field hospital who had been beaten, one of whom later died of his injuries, the Danish Defence Ministry said yesterday.
The incident was reported to British officials in September.
Danish troops serve under British command in southern Iraq, where two unnamed medics said that last September in Basra two Iraqi prisoners were brought in with signs of having suffered "rough treatment during an unauthorised interrogation in the field by a British unit", a ministry statement said.
"According to the information, one of the Iraqis was later to die of his injuries," the ministry said.
Danish Defence Minister Mr Søren Gade told local television the British military had agreed to provide information about the incident, which was reported immediately to a Danish army lawyer back in September but was not reported to Copenhagen.
The Danish legal officer contacted British authorities and was told the incident was already being investigated.
"Because no Danish soldiers were involved, the episode was not reported back home," said Mr Gade, promising to find out why the report was not followed up.
Two weeks ago, a British newspaper published a witness statement from an Iraqi engineer who said he had been beaten by British soldiers over three days in September 2003. One of the men arrested with him, hotel receptionist Baha Musa, died of his injuries, he said.
Denmark is a steadfast US ally in the war but Prime Minister Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen said earlier this week extraordinary measures must be taken to restore confidence following the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.