Downing Street stands by execution claim

Two British soldiers whose bodies were shown on Iraq television “may well have been” executed, Downing Street insisted today.

Tony Blair’s spokesman stuck by the claim even though the family of Sapper Luke Allsopp reacted angrily to the British Prime Minister’s suggestion yesterday that he and Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth were executed by Saddam Hussein’s henchmen after an ambush on their vehicle in southern Iraq.

Sapper Allsopp’s sister insisted the Army had told his family the two Royal Engineer bomb disposal experts had died in combat.

Mr Blair’s spokesman said the British government had drawn the conclusion they had been executed, but that further inquiries would be made.