Four British soldiers were arrested over alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners earlier today.
The four were released after helping British army inquiries in alleged abuse cases in Basra.
"The interviews were standard practice in an investigation of this nature," a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said, adding the arrests were unrelated to the photos which appeared in the Daily Mirrorin recent weeks which were yesterday proved fake.
But the British government has been under growing pressure after both Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross revealed they had expressed concerns to British authorities months ago about their treatment of detainees.
Officials have said 33 cases against British troops were or had been investigated, with 12 ongoing. Of the 21 completed, six could lead to charges and 15 had "no case to answer".