The British Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that at least one British soldier had been arrested in connection with faked Iraqi prisoner torture pictures that were published by the British Daily Mirror newspaper.  

According to the ministry, the soldier was being questioned by the Special Investigations Branch of the military.

The arrests were a routine part of the British military's investigation into the alleged abuses by British troops of Iraqi prisoners, and no charges were immediately filed, the ministry said in a statement.

The British government announced last Thursday that pictures published by the Daily Mirror that showed a hooded man being struck with a rifle butt, urinated on and having a gun held to his head, apparently by British soldiers, were "categorically not taken in Iraq."

Following the announcement, the tabloid apologized last Friday over publication of "fake" photos and Piers Morgan, its editor who staunchly defended the photos, stepped down on the same day.

On May 1, The Daily Mirror published the pictures from British soldiers, days after images of US troops torturing and abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were revealed.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2004)