PICTURES purportedly showing British soldiers abusing an Iraqi detainee were "categorically" not taken in Iraq, the Government said yesterday.

Armed forces minister Adam Ingram said an investigation into the photographs - published in the Daily Mirror - had now established that the Army lorry in which they were shot had never been in the country.

He called on Mirror editor Piers Morgan to co-operate fully with the ongoing inquiry by the Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch (SIB) into how the pictures came to be taken.

The finding will come as a relief to both the Government and the Army, which have been under intense pressure since the publication earlier this month of the pictures apparently showing soldiers beating and urinating on a hooded detainee.

Following the publication of genuine photographs of US troops abusing and humiliating prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, they caused widespread revulsion in the Middle East and around the world.

Although the authenticity of the British pictures was widely questioned by other newspapers, the Mirror last night continued to stand by them.

Mr Ingram told MPs the SIB's finding that the pictures were not taken in Iraq had been independently corroborated.

However, he said he could not release the evidence as the SIB inquiry was continuing and could still lead to criminal proceedings against those involved in producing the photographs.

He said investigators were trying to establish the identity of the two soldiers - known as Soldier A and Soldier B - who told the Mirror they had witnessed beatings by troops from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

"It is deeply disturbing that there are those who are prepared to casually vilify our armed forces without establishing the facts," he told the Commons.

"These pictures were categorically not taken in Iraq. Moreover, this is not only the opinion of the SIB investigators. It has been independently corroborated."

Mr Ingram said that it was now up to the Mirror to co-operate with the SIB inquiry.

Last night, Mr Morgan said the Government had still not produced "incontrovertible evidence" that the photographs were fake .

He also dismissed as "nonsense" Mr Ingram's assertion that the Mirror was not co-operating with the SIB inquiry.

"There is, of course, a much bigger issue here that we make no apology for highlighting - which is that the pictures accurately illustrated the reality about the appalling conduct of some British troops," Mr Morgan said in a statement.

"And in particular, the conduct of certain members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment. Conduct which is already the subject of ongoing disciplinary proceedings. And conduct which stains the reputation of that regiment and the British Army."

Brigadier Geoff Sheldon, of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, later confirmed the truck featured in the photographs was discovered in a Territorial Army base in Lancashire.

"It is great news they have now said these photographs are entirely mocked up and fakes," he said.