The US military has filed criminal charges against six of its soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad, according to the BBC.

A jury is examining the charges, a US military spokesman told the BBC's Newshour programme.

Six senior US officers, who had been responsible for supervising the others, were also reprimanded, the army said earlier.

"Letters of reprimand are for their supervisors, some quite distant from their location… but who still had the responsibility of supervising their people," the spokesman, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, said.

The allegations first came to light last Thursday, when CBS TV showed photos of prisoners being humiliated and abused.

In one picture, two Iraqis were forced to simulate oral sex, while another inmate was connected to wires and told he would be electrocuted if he fell off a box.

The abuses, which occurred in late 2003, are said to have involved about 20 prisoners.