Hundreds of photographs have been taken of British servicemen mistreating Iraqi civilians, it was claimed last night.

Troops serving in southern Iraq have been swapping the pictures among themselves, said the unnamed soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment who sparked furore over the weekend by releasing photos apparently showing UK personnel abusing an Iraqi prisoner.

The regiment was stationed at Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire, until being posted to Cyprus in January.

The potentially explosive claims, if proven, would contradict Prime Minister Tony Blair's assurance that any misconduct in British ranks was ''exceptional'' and limited to a handful of servicemen.

Doubts were cast yesterday on the authenticity of the photos, published in the Daily Mirror on Saturday, which appeared to show a hooded man being struck with a rifle butt, urinated on and having a gun held to his head.

Sources close to the regiment claimed the rifle, hats and truck seen in the pictures did not match those issued to men in Iraq.

But last night the soldiers who made the pictures public told the Mirror: ''We stand by every single word of our story.

''This happened, it is not a hoax and the Army knows a lot more has happened.''

The Mirror pictures followed the publication of photographs of naked Iraqis being taunted and abused by US troops at Abu Ghraib prison, near Baghdad.

The Royal Military Police is carrying out an urgent inquiry into claims that the hooded man was subjected to an eight-hour ordeal from British troops after being picked up in Iraq for suspected theft last year.

It was claimed that he had his jaw broken and teeth smashed before being dumped from a moving vehicle.

In today's edition of the Mirror, the soldiers detail other alleged incidents of brutality towards local people, including a baton attack which left a prisoner with a compound fracture to his arm.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the soldiers said: ''Maybe the officers don't know what is going on - but everybody else does.

"I have seen literally hundreds of pictures.''

The Queen's Lancashire Regiment was also at the centre of allegations earlier this year that an Iraqi civilian had been beaten to death.

But at Catterick Garrison yesterday the reaction to the Mirror pictures was mainly one of disbelief. Janet Lambert, of Scotton village, said: "I wouldn't have thought our lads would be capable of something like that." Comment - Page 10