An independent report into how a hotel worker died, while being held in British custody in Iraq, will clear the Army of systematic torture and mistreatment, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

But the document will criticise the conduct of individual soldiers and highlight "numerous failures" in the Army's chain of command, the newspaper says.

The official findings of the three-year inquiry into the brutal death of Iraqi civilian, Baha Mousa, and the abuse of nine other Iraqi men detained with him, are expected to be released on September 8.

Father-of-two, Mr Mousa (26), sustained 93 injuries while being held by 1st Battalion the Queen's Lancashire Regiment (1QLR) in Basra, southern Iraq, in 2003.

The judge-led inquiry, chaired by Sir William Gage, was ordered in 2008 and became the biggest examination of military conduct in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion.

According to the Telegraph, the inquiry has found no evidence that British soldiers conducted wholesale abuse, torture and murder of suspected insurgents during the occupation of southern Iraq.

However, it will accuse former members of 1QLR of "closing ranks."

Belfast Telegraph