Nearly 60 cases accusing British soldiers of committing "unlawful killings" in Iraq have been dropped, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.

According to MOD officials The Iraq Historic Allegations Team has decided it will not proceed with 57 of the cases that were being investigated and a further case was stopped by the military's service prosecuting authority.

The decision comes just days after Prime Minister David Cameron promised to crack down on "spurious" legal claims made against troops who served in the Iraq War and draw up measures to tackle bogus claims.

On Friday Cameron said: "Our armed forces are rightly held to the highest standards - but I want our troops to know that when they get home from action overseas this government will protect them from being hounded by lawyers over claims that are totally without foundation."

It also comes in the wake of revelations at the start of January that hundreds of British soldiers who served in the war had received letters questioning their involvement in the alleged murder and abuse of prisoners during the conflict.