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Al Jazeera showed images of two dead British soldiers, one of whom appears to have been shot in the chest, missing since Sunday when they were separated from a column that came under attack.

It follows similar images the Qatar-based channel has shown of American war dead and POWs paraded by Iraqi state-controlled television.

The broadcast of the film of the dead British soldiers was condemned by British military commanders, who confirmed the dead men were thought to be two soldiers who had gone missing during fighting around al-Zubayr, near the southern city of Basra.

Air Marshal Brian Burridge, commander of UK forces in the Gulf, said: "We are shocked and appalled by this flagrant and disgraceful breach of the Geneva Convention. We deplore the decision by Al Jazeera to broadcast such material and call on them to desist immediately."

He added: "All media must be aware of the limits of taste and decency."

Al Jazeera has been widely condemned by both Washington and London over its highly controversial broadcast of dead and captured troops. Its action have led to two of its reporters being banned from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange and its internet site has become the target of hackers.

The NYSE said that it only provided credentials to TV networks that broadcast "responsible" coverage.

In response to the withering attacks, Al Jazeera has hit back, calling on the US to protect press freedom. He called for a national effort to protect the press.

Al Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said: "There has to be a national effort to protect the freedom of the press even more. We appeal to authorities to pay attention to this."

However, with such images being shown Al Jazeera is winning itself few friends in the West. What it is winning, though, is Muslim viewers.

The network claims to have signed up as many as 4m additional viewers in the past week across Europe, but particularly in countries like France, which has a large Arab Muslim population.

The UK has also seen an upsurge, according to Al Jazeera, but it has done far less well in the US, where it is thought to have just 100,000 subscribers.

"In Europe, we're naturally most popular in countries with big Muslim populations like France. In Britain, we've also seen a pick-up in non-Arabic-speaking Muslims," Ballout said.

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