An investigation by the British government into allegations of abuse against British forces in Iraq will be shut down within months, the UK Defense Secretary announced.

    The Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) will close in the summer and around 20 cases will be dealt with by the Royal Navy Police, Secretary Michael Fallon said.

    It comes after a scathing report by the Defense Subcommittee said the investigation had subjected serving and retired troops to "deeply disturbing" treatment and had "directly harmed" UK defenses.

    MPs set out a litany of failures about the way the Ministry of Defense, which created IHAT, has handled the probe. They blamed the department for empowering law firms to generate cases that lacked credibility on an "industrial scale".

    The committee also said it was "deeply concerned" the MoD had used public funds to cover the costs of those who were bringing "spurious and unassessed" cases against the war veterans and about the lack of support for those accused.

Source: QNA