LONDON, Feb. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Nearly 50 more British soldiers are facing prosecution for murder, manslaughter, assault and other crimes committed in Iraq, the Sunday Telegraph quoted secret military documents as reporting.

    The disclosure follows the sentencing at a court martial in Germany of three soldiers who abused Iraqi detainees earlier this month.

    The leaked documents, marked "Restricted -- Investigations Not For Disclosure. Ministerial Update of Service Police Investigations", showed that almost three times as many soldiers face charges than had been admitted by the ministry of defense, said the newspaper.

    The allegations included two cases in which Iraqi civilians were allegedly deliberately drowned by British soldiers and an incident that could lead to the first member of the elite Special Air Service being charged with murder.

    One case involved the alleged murder of 16-year-old Ahmed Jabber Kareem who was arrested on May 8, 2003. In another case, anofficer and two soldiers were reported to be facing a joint manslaughter charge over the drowning of Said Shabram, a sheep herder.

    On Jan. 1, 2004, an Iraqi civilian named GGHD Roomi was reportedly shot dead by British Special Forces in Basra, southern Iraq.

    On Friday, British Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Sir Mike Jackson, announced that a senior officer would conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into the crimes committed by British troops in Iraq.

    "I do apologize on behalf of the (British) Army to those Iraqiswho were abused and to the people of Iraq as a whole," he said. Enditem