SOLDIERS from Bury's Territorial Army unit, who fought in Iraq last year, could be called in for questioning as military chiefs probe the origin of "fake" photographs of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi in prison.

Detectives from the Royal Military Police's special investigations branch are reported to have found the vehicle, featured in the pictures published by the Daily Mirror, at the Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers in Preston, the headquarters of the Bury based unit.

Military investigators believe the four-ton Bedford lorry was at Kimberley Barracks when the photographs were taken.

Now the finger of blame is being pointed towards the 100 LCV soldiers, including 21 from the Bury detachment, who last year spent six months fighting in Iraq alongside their regular army counterparts from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

The pictures printed by the Mirror show a British soldier urinating on an unidentified and hooded Iraqi prisoner.

Senior military chiefs and the Ministry of Defence boss, Geoff Hoon, have, however, dismissed the photographs as fake.

They said the uniforms and weapons were too pristine, the photographs were too sharp and did not show movement, and the prisoner was clean and did not react when a rifle butt was "rammed" into his groin.

The lorry where the alleged abuse took place was identified as a Bedford truck which had not been used in the recent Iraq war.

Forensic tests on the photographs given to the RMP by the Mirror are believed to have revealed distinctive identification marks which have allowed them to fingerprint the vehicle and trace it to the headquarters of the LCV in Preston.

LCV staff at the Bury detachment were unable to comment on the RMP probe or if local soldiers would be interviewed by military investigators.

However, a spokesman for the north west army, Roger Goodwin, said: "The RMP has been requested to carry out an investigation into the pictures, and there is no question they are fake."