AN OFFICER from The Light Infantry Regiment has been arrested and questioned in connection with the beating of four Iraqi youths in the town of al-Amarah in southern Iraq in January 2004.

The arrest brings to four the number of soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Light Infantry who have been questioned by the Special Investigations Branch (SIB) of the Royal Military Police, after publication of pictures from a video of the beating published in the News of the World last month.

The Ministry of Defence would not confirm that the fourth soldier to be arrested was an officer. However, the SIB has been trying to identify all the soldiers seen in the video and any officers who were supposed to be in charge of them on the day of the incident in al-Amarah, which is north of Basra, near the border with Iran.

The officer is reported to be a major who would have been the second in command.

Defence sources said that the fourth soldier to be arrested was taken to a private room and told of his rights before being interviewed by the SIB, with a solicitor present to represent the arrested man.

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