Sweady inquiry: UK soldiers to give Iraq evidence 2 September 2013 Last updated at 02:04 British soldiers involved in a battle during the Iraq War will start giving evidence to a public inquiry in central London later today. The Al-Sweady inquiry is looking into claims that UK forces mistreated and unlawfully killed Iraqi detainees in 2004 after what became known as the Battle of Danny Boy. The MoD and the soldiers involved deny the allegations. The inquiry will hear evidence from up to 200 British military witnesses. Pitched battle The inquiry, which began in 2010 and has cost over £17m so far, is expected to report back by the end of 2014. It has already heard from Iraqi witnesses and some experts. The Battle of Danny Boy in May 2004 was named after a British checkpoint near the town of Majar al-Kabir in southern Iraq. Iraqi insurgents ambushed soldiers leading to a firefight which turned into a three-hour battle including the use of bayonets. The British army has said that the dead bodies of some of those killed in the fighting were taken back to a base to try to identify a man thought to be involved in the murder of six military policemen the year before. Lawyers acting for several Iraqi clients claim that some were taken alive and ill-treated or unlawfully killed at Camp Abu Naji and Shaibah Logistics Base. The MoD, British soldiers and their lawyers vigorously deny the claims saying those who died were killed on the battlefield. Identify events The inquiry is the second investigation into the claims, after an earlier Royal Military Police inquiry was deemed inadequate by High Court judges. The Al-Sweady inquiry has heard that its aim is to identify the events surrounding the deaths of 28 Iraqi men. It is named after one of the men, 19-year old Hamid al-Sweady, is being chaired by retired High Court judge Sir Thayne Forbes at Finlaison House. It is the second public inquiry into allegations of abuse by British troops in Iraq following one that examined the death in 2003 of Baha Mousa. Three years passed between the setting up of the Al-Sweady inquiry and its opening as staff, including retired detectives, trawled through as many as 12,000 documents.