NINE Iraqis allegedly abused by British soldiers were believed to be linked to the massacre of six Royal Military Police three months before their ordeal, a court was told yesterday.

A British soldier has been shot and wounded in the first sniper attack on UK forces occupying the south of Iraq since the end of the war, the British Ministry of Defence confirmed today.

A top level investigation was under way today after six British soldiers were killed and eight injured in two separate attacks in Iraq – the heaviest British combat casualties since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.