Porn baron buys topless Private Jessica photos

Photographs showing rescued American soldier Private Jessica Lynch topless with two male soldiers have been bought by the owner of Hustler.

Larry Flynt insists he has only paid for the snaps to prevent them from becoming public.

The news comes on the day 20-year-old Private Lynch's book, I Am A Soldier Too, was published, detailing her capture and rescue during the Iraq war.

In a statement, Mr Flynt said: "I was offered photos of Jessica Lynch. I purchased them in order to keep them out of circulation, not to publish them."

Mr Flynt, an opponent of the Bush administration, added: "Jessica Lynch is being used as a pawn by the media and by the government to create a hero who can sell this war to the American people."

The photographs, showing Miss Lynch with two male soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas, were taken shortly before she went to Iraq.

Larry Flynt reportedly paid a six-figure sum for the snaps.

Paul Bogaards of Alfred Knopf, publisher of Miss Lynch's book, said it would be "unspeakable" if Hustler decided to publish the pictures.