Four British soldiers condemned over death of 15-year-old Iraqi

A report by former High Court Judge Sir George Newman has condemned the actions of four British soldiers in 2003, who "forced" a 15-year-old Iraqi boy into a canal and allowed him to drown.

The four soldiers, who were not named in the report, had been "acquitted of manslaughter at a court martial in 2006", reports the BBC.

According to a 134-page report by the Iraq Fatality Investigations, the teenager - named Ahmed Jabbar Kareem Ali - and three other men had been detained by Iraqi police on suspicion of looting, and were driven by the troops in a Warrior armed vehicle to a nearby canal, where they were forced into the water.

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The report states that Ahmed was observed "floundering and submerging" in the water, with one of the British soldiers saying he "would have to go in and get him" if he came up to the surface again.

"He did not resurface. The soldiers then left without any attempt to rescue him," stated Newman.

The report said the soldier's actions were a "clumsy, ill-directed and bullying piece of conduct, engaged in without consideration of the risk of harm to which it could give rise".

Reports from the Iraq Fatality Investigations are "designed to find out what happened in a situation, not to apportion blame", and a second part of the report "outlining lessons to be learned" will be released at a later date, reports the Daily Mirror.