'Name the soldiers'

Tony Blair today piled pressure on the Daily Mirror to name the British soldiers who claim to have taken pictures of an Iraqi prisoner being tortured.

His call came amid speculation that the images may be a dangerous-hoax. The Prime Minister's spokesman said that all concerned had a "duty" to establish the facts. Senior officers are convinced-that the pictures, apparentlyof men from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment beating and humiliating a prisoner, are a sick prank or a deliberate deception.

Either way, they say it could put British lives at risk in the tinderbox of Iraq.

Downing Street appealed to the Mirror to end the uncertainty by co-operating fully with a military investigation into the crisis.

"Clearly we would ask and hope that everybody involved would co-operate with an investigation," said Mr Blair's official spokesman. He added:

"We believe everyone has a duty to co-operate."

Asked if that meant Mirror editor Piers Morgan supplying the names of the soldiers to the investigators, the spokesman said: "It is a matter for people to address their own duties. "We want to get to the bottom of this in terms of the Army's reputation, at home and abroad. It is vital that everyone should co-operate with the investigation."

Emphasising the " seriousness" of the charges, No10 admitted it had no idea if the pictures were genuine or fakes.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram told MPs this afternoon that the Mirror had handed over 20 photographs to military investigators and officers were talking to the newspaper to ask for further information.

"Any decent thinking person will have been disturbed by the photographs," he said in an emergency statement to the Commons.

"From the outset, we have taken the allegations seriously and taken the photographs at face value and will continue to do so unless there is evidence to the contrary."

He appealed to all parties to tell everything they know about the alleged incident which had "caused some people to question the integrity of British soldiers and the validity of their mission in Iraq".

Mr Ingram criticised the Mirror for failing to hand over the name of its informant on the grounds that it wished to protect a serving soldier from reprisals.

"I genuinely do not understand that position," he said. "I have every confidence that anyone with information will be treated fairly."

Earlier former defence secretary Lord King said it was vital to get to the bottom of the affair. He added: "The jury is out on these pictures. But they have already done serious damage in Britain and in the Arab world. I expect full co-operation from the Mirror and anybody else to establish whether they are real or false."

Serving soldiers also believe that the two men who claim they took the pictures and witnessed the Iraqi being beaten should be named and questioned. One theory gaining ground is that they are members of the Territorial Army because the version of the rifle and the truck shown in the images is widely used by TA regiments.

The Royal Military Police today began an inquiry into the affair, investigating in Iraq, the UK and in Cyprus where the Queen's Lancashire Regiment is based.

The Daily Mirror insists the pictures are genuine.