Four UK soldiers who "forced" an Iraqi boy into a canal and let him drown have been condemned by a judge investigating civilian deaths in the Iraq War.
Ahmed Jabbar Kareem Ali, who was 15, died in Basra in May 2003 after he was detained on suspicion of looting.
The judge's report said Ahmed should never have been detained or made to enter the canal, and should have been rescued when he was "floundering".
The Ministry of Defence said it was "extremely sorry".
Ahmed was one of four suspected looters who were taken in a Warrior armed vehicle to the Shatt-Al Basra canal and forced to enter the water.
led by former High Court judge Sir George Newman, described the soldiers' actions as a "clumsy, ill-directed and bullying piece of conduct, engaged in without consideration of the risk of harm to which it could give rise".
It criticised their "manifest failure" to take action to save the boy's life.
"His death ensued because he was forced by the soldiers to enter the canal, where, in the presence of the soldiers, he was seen to be in difficulty, and to go under the water.
"Notwithstanding the unlawful treatment involved in getting him into the water, his death could have been avoided because he could and should have been rescued after it became clear that he was floundering."
The four soldiers involved, who were granted anonymity in the report, were acquitted of manslaughter at a court martial in 2006.
The report raised "grave concerns" about their ability to have coped with the responsibilities imposed on them and about the adequacy of the resources available to British forces in Iraq.
It added there were also concerns about training and "the ability of the occupying force to take on the burden to act as both policemen and combatants simultaneously".
Basra at the time had "descended into a state of chaos" and there was no assistance from Iraqi police or legal processes in place to deal with the problem of looting, which had been "beyond the capabilities of the British Forces to reduce", it continued.