LONDON, April 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The British Ministry of Defense said Friday it has launched a probe into allegations that British soldiers have been pictured torturing an Iraqi prisoner.

    The photographs which are to be published by the Daily Mirror newspaper Saturday show a suspected Iraqi chief being beaten and urinated on. It is alleged during his 8-hour ordeal he was threatened with execution, his jaw broken and his teeth smashed.

    Britain's chief of the general staff, General Sir Mike Jackson, said if guilty, the men were not fit to wear the uniform.

    "If proven, not only is such appalling conduct clearly unlawful but also contravenes the British Army's high standards of conduct," Jackson was quoted by a BBC report as saying.

    "The allegations are already under investigation," he said.

    Earlier on Friday, the British government said it was "appalled" by photographs of Iraqi prisoners being abused by US troops at a prison near Baghdad.

    British Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said the way naked prisoners were tormented by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib jail directly contravened all the US-led coalition's policy.

    However, he stressed that the abuse by a few American soldiers was not representative of coalition troops. Enditem