Photographs of alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians at the hands of British soldiers - including one from the North-East - were revealed at a court martial yesterday.

The images include naked Iraqi prisoners simulating sex acts, British soldiers pretending to punch and kick bound men, and a prisoner - grimacing with fear - tied to the raised forks of a forklift truck.

General Sir Mike Jackson, head of the Army, said he condemned utterly all acts of abuse and said such allegations were investigated immediately.

The pictures come less than a week after US army specialist Charles Graner was jailed for ten years for sexually humiliating and attacking prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

At yesterday's proceedings at a British Army court martial centre in Osnabruck, Germany, three soldiers, from the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, were charged in connection with abusing Iraqis at a humanitarian aid camp.

Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, from Newcastle, and Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, entered not guilty pleas to the abuse charges. Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, 30, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, admitted one charge of assaulting an unknown male at the camp, but denied another charge of forcing two Iraqi males to undress in front of others.

In the photographs, L Cpl Larkin is seen wearing his boxer shorts and flip flops while standing on a bound Iraqi prisoner brandishing a cam pole - a long wooden poles used to suspend camouflage netting.

William England, representing L Cpl Larkin, said his client was ashamed of the offence to which he had pleaded guilty.

He said: "He knows he has brought shame on his proud regiment, his name and his family."

Cpl Kenyon faces six charges in total, including two of aiding and abetting a person to force two naked males being detained by British troops to simulate a sex act.

L Cpl Cooley faces three charges, including tying an unknown male prisoner to a forklift truck as well as simulating punching and kicking another unknown male also being detained by the Army.

The alleged offences took place in May 2003, only weeks after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime was ousted by coalition troops.

The detainees were being held at a camp known as Camp Bread Basket, near Basra, in southern Iraq.

The soldiers were guarding the camp, which had been plagued by looters stealing food.

Lieutenant-Colonel Nick Clapham, prosecuting, revealed that the camp's commander, Major Dan Taylor, had ordered that looters should be "worked hard" - an order Lt Col Clapham said was a breach of the Geneva Convention.

The court heard Maj Taylor had outlined his plan, codenamed Operation Ali Baba - a reference to the folk tale of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves - to his commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel David Paterson, who approved it.

More than 100 British soldiers were involved in the unlawful operation that began at daybreak.

The soldiers patrolled the camp dressed in their PT kits in groups of four to six.

One of the group was armed with an SA80 rifle while the rest carried cam poles.

A number of looters were captured during the operation and forced to carry back the aid they had stolen, the court heard.

They were then broken down into groups and distributed between the servicemen to be "worked hard" by carrying out menial tasks at the camp.

A section run by Cpl Kenyon was given three or four Iraqis to detain and work. A short time later, the scenes of abuse depicted in the photographs occurred.

"The order to 'work' by Maj Taylor was an unlawful one but, even though the order was unlawful, had the defendants done no more, they would not face the charges they face today," Lt Col Clapham told the hearing.

The court was shown 22 photographs taken from the cameras of five servicemen depicting the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners.

Among them are photos of two naked Iraqi men simulating anal sex with their thumbs raised up to the cameras and a close-up photograph of two Iraqi men simulating oral sex.

A grinning L Cpl Cooley is also seen driving a forklift truck with an Iraqi male suspended from the forks, which are raised about two metres.

The court heard Cooley admitted driving the truck but claimed it was "to move the man out of the sun".

Lt Col Clapham said: "It cannot be said that these photographs are of incidents that are anything other than shocking and appalling."

Evidence of the alleged abuse came to light after a set of photographs were left for processing at Max Spielman, in Tamworth, Staffordshire, on May 28, 2003.

In a statement, shop assistant Emma Louise Blackie said she was "disturbed by the the content" and contacted civilian police.

Lt Col Clapham told the court that the young man who took the photographs to be developed was Fusilier Gary Bartlam, who was convicted of a number of offences arising from the photography at an earlier hearing.

If found guilty, the soldiers could be jailed and discharged from the Army. The court martial resumes today.