British soldiers have begun giving evidence at an inquiry into claims more than 20 Iraqi detainees were unlawfully killed after a notorious battle.
The Al-Sweady inquiry is also investigating claims that UK forces mistreated detainees after the 2004 so-called "Battle of Danny Boy" firefight.
The Ministry of Defence and the soldiers involved deny the allegations.
The inquiry began in 2010 but has so far heard only from Iraqis and some experts - not the soldiers involved.
It will take evidence from up to 200 British military witnesses.
Pitched battleThe Battle of Danny Boy in May 2004 was named after a British checkpoint near the town of Majar al-Kabir in southern Iraq.
Iraqi insurgents ambushed soldiers leading to a firefight which turned into a three-hour battle, including the use of bayonets.
The British army has said that the dead bodies of some of those killed in the fighting were taken back to a base to try to identify a man thought to be involved in the murder of six military policemen the year before.
But lawyers acting for several Iraqi clients claim that some were taken alive and mistreated or unlawfully killed at Camp Abu Naji and Shaibah Logistics Base.
The MoD, British troops and their lawyers vigorously deny the claims saying those who died were killed on the battlefield.
Maj Adam Griffiths - the first soldier to give evidence - told the inquiry in a witness statement the allegations were false.
Identify eventsThe inquiry is the second investigation into the claims, after an earlier Royal Military Police inquiry was deemed inadequate by High Court judges.
The Al-Sweady inquiry has heard that its aim is to identify the events surrounding the deaths of 28 Iraqi men.
It is named after one of the men, 19-year old Hamid al-Sweady, and is being chaired by retired High Court judge Sir Thayne Forbes, sitting at Finlaison House.
It is the second public inquiry into allegations of abuse by British troops in Iraq following one that examined the death in 2003 of Baha Mousa.
The Iraqi hotel worker died in 2003 while in British custody. An inquiry found he had suffered an "appalling episode of serious gratuitous violence" at the hands of British forces in Iraq.
Three years passed between the setting up of the Al-Sweady inquiry and its opening as staff, including retired detectives, trawled through as many as 12,000 documents.
It began in 2010 and has cost over £17m so far. It is expected to report back by the end of 2014.
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