Iraqi civilians detained by British troops during the war have lodged at least 33 new allegations of rape and abuse against the troops, the defence ministry said on Saturday.

One abuse claim involves a 16-year-old boy who said he was raped by two British soldiers while in custody in 2003.

Another man has accused male and female personnel of sexually harassing him.

Others said they were stripped naked and photographed by British troops in a manner similar to photographs of abuse by US soldiers at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Phil Shiner, the lawyer representing the Iraqis who made the claims, said Iraqis are coming forward now following the withdrawal of most British troops from Iraq earlier this year.

"Given the history of the UK's involvement in the development of these techniques alongside the US, it is deeply concerning that there appears to be strong similarities between instances of the use of sexual humiliation," the AP quoted Shiner as saying in a letter to the ministry.

The claims come as the UK examines a public inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi civilian who died in British custody in 2003, with 93 separate injuries.

But Bill Rammell, the armed forces minister, told the BBC that the latest allegations do not warrant a public inquiry.

Iraqi hesitation

Mazin Younis, an Iraqi human rights campaigner, said some of the complaints were made after the departure of the majority of British forces from Iraq earlier this year.

"If you look at the horrible things that have happened to those detainees, you can imagine why those people are so scared," he told Al Jazeera.

"They have been waiting for a year or two years ... for their release and the last thing they want is the British soldiers to come back and arrest them again.

"And some of them are telling us even now that they're hesitant to come forward because they have no guarantee that their names will not be passed to the Iraq side or to the Americans who have taken over Basra and they'll be re-arrested."

PHOTO CAPTION

Soldiers from 12 Regiment Royal Artillery mark their return from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as they process through the streets of Blackpool, northern England, November 14, 2009.

Al-Jazeera