BAGHDAD, Iraq – A video released yesterday by a London tabloid shows what appear to be British soldiers head-butting, kicking, and clubbing unarmed Iraqi teen-agers as an off-camera voice laughs and taunts the victims.

The footage, described by the News of the World in its Sunday edition and linked to the paper’s Web site, was shot from the observation tower of a compound in southern Iraq during a series of street demonstrations in early 2004, the newspaper reported.

Eight soldiers in riot gear and army uniforms can be seen dragging four boys or young men into the courtyard of a walled compound, wrestling them to the ground and battering them with more than 40 blows over a two-minute period. The boys offer little resistance and occasionally cry out, “No, please.”

As the beatings escalate, an audibly agitated man with a British accent can be heard urging the soldiers on by yelling, “Oh yes. Oh yes. You’re gonna get it. Yes. Naughty little boys,” followed by expletives and laughter.

If determined to be authentic, the footage is the most graphic visual depiction of abuse by coalition forces since the 2004 Abu Ghraib scandal, when photographs taken by American soldiers at a prison west of Baghdad showed detainees stripped naked, posed in degrading positions and terrorized by German shepherds.

A British military spokesman in the southern city of Basra said the tape had prompted the country’s defense ministry and Royal Military Police to order an “urgent investigation.”

“We are aware of the very serious allegations and obviously condemn all acts of abuse and brutality,” a British military spokesman in Basra, Major Peter Cripps, said. “British troops are not above the law.”

Prime Minister Blair, currently traveling in South Africa, said: “We take seriously any allegation of mistreatment and these will be investigated very fully indeed,” the BBC reported. “The overwhelming majority of British troops in Iraq, as elsewhere, behave properly and are doing a great job for our country and for the wider world.”

News of the World said the video was shot by a British army corporal and provided by a “disgusted whistleblower” after it circulated on a base in Europe. The newspaper reported that the teenagers were beaten after they threw a homemade grenade and rocks at the soldiers. The report also said that the footage shows a soldier lifting a blanket over the head of a dead Iraqi and kicking him twice, though that segment was not provided on the Web site.

This is not the first allegation of detainee abuse against British troops in Iraq. One year ago, a series of photographs emerged showing soldiers at Camp Bread Basket near Basra stepping on Iraqi prisoners, drawing back to punch them, and suspending one from the prongs of a forklift. Three soldiers were dismissed from the army and imprisoned in the case.

In other cases, images of detainee abuse by British troops turned out to have been faked. In May 2004, London’s Daily Mirror printed several photographs that allegedly showed abuse, including one that showed a soldier urinating on a prisoner. Two weeks later, the tabloid’s editor was fired when experts concluded the images had been doctored.

The treatment of detainees in Iraq is among the most politically sensitive issues facing Iraqi and coalition officials. Leaders in Iraq’s Sunni Arab community, from whose members the bulk of the country’s insurgency is drawn, have repeatedly condemned what they say is systemic torture and abuse by Iraq’s security forces.

In November, American soldiers found evidence of brutal beatings and other abuse when they raided an Iraqi interior ministry prison. Weeks later, the existence of another such facility was disclosed.

Relations have been strained between the more than 8,000-member British force based in southern Iraq and local residents, politicians, and police. Attacks against British troops have escalated in recent months, pushing the number killed in Iraq past 100 and intensifying calls in Britain for their withdrawal.

Last month, angry street rallies broke out in Basra when British troops arrested several members of the local police force – many of whom retain loyalty to powerful Shiite Muslim militias.

“We will be working hard with the political and religious leaders to try to put the video into context so it doesn’t undo our hard work,” Major Cripps said. “Remember, over 80,000 British service men and women have served in Iraq since the beginning of the military operations and only a tiny number are alleged to be involved in incidents of deliberate abuse.”