LONDON — The British government was told in February of allegations coalition troops had abused Iraqi prisoners, Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said Saturday.

A spokesman said the government was shown an interim report by the International Committee of the Red Cross detailing alleged abuses by U.S. and British troops in Iraq. He said the confidential report has not yet been published.

The Red Cross has said it warned U.S. officials of prisoner abuse in Iraq more than a year ago.

On Friday the Wall Street Journal newspaper published details from a confidential Red Cross report describing beatings and humiliation of prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and in the British-controlled southern city Basra.

The Red Cross confirmed the leaked report was genuine. Director of operations Pierre Kraehenbuehl said it had been discussed with top U.S. officials in Iraq in February, a month after Lt.-Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, announced an investigation into allegations of mistreatment of prisoners at a coalition detention facility.

A spokesman for Blair's office, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said the British government "was shown a copy of the report in February so we could comment on it and take action."

He would not say what, if any, action was taken.

On Friday the Ministry of Defence said it could not discuss details of the Red Cross report because it was confidential.

"We take our obligations under the Geneva Convention and international law very seriously," a spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.

"The report by the ICRC was an interim report and we acted on its recommendations."

In the last week, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper has published allegations of mistreatment of prisoners by members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, as well as photographs purporting to show detainees being abused by British troops.

Military police are investigating the allegations.

On Saturday, the Mirror ran a cover picture that appeared to show a British soldier taking what it called a "trophy photograph" of a prisoner whose hands were bound and teeth bloody.

It said the cover photo had come from an unidentified soldier it called Soldier D. The newspaper quoted him saying "there were no rules" for treatment of prisoners and alleging detainees were regularly beaten by as many as 12 soldiers each.

"I saw beatings like this every day," the soldier was reported to have said.

"We'd pull a guy from the back of the wagon with his hands still tied, then up to 12 of us would give him a kicking and leave him on the floor."

Soldier D was also quoted saying that British soldiers took photos and videos of abuse so they could boast of their toughness.

The Ministry of Defence declined comment on his charges, saying all allegations of abuse would be investigated but it would not discuss specific cases.

The Independent newspaper reported Kifah Talah, 44, an Iraqi engineer, said British troops beat him so badly he suffered kidney failure.

Talah said in a statement to be submitted to Britain's High Court soldiers put a hood on him and beat him about the neck, chest and genitals over the course of three days, then made him dance, the newspaper reported.

"One terrible game played involved kick-boxing," the Independent quoted Talah's statement saying.

"The soldiers would surround us and compete as to who could kick-box one of us furthest."

The defence ministry declined comment on the charge.

Also Saturday, a newspaper alleged U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners appeared to loosely follow a system of pressure techniques taught to some British and U.S. troops.

Details of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison seemed to match the tactics of a system called R2I, for "resistance to interrogation," designed to cause shock and humiliation, the Guardian newspaper quoted an unidentified former officer from Britain's special forces saying.

The newspaper said British and U.S. special-forces soldiers learned the techniques -- including keeping prisoners naked for long periods and subjecting them to sexual humiliation.