The call was spearheaded by relatives of four of the recruits aged between 17 and 20, who the army said shot themselves several times at Deepcut army base in Surrey in southern England.

"All the families want a public inquiry. We have all got to stick together and go for this," said Jim Collinson, the father of 17-year-old Deepcut recruit James.

"Our son was murdered at Deepcut and we will carry on and get justice for him... It stinks of a cover-up."

On Friday police said a 15-month inquiry into the deaths had not produced evidence that could lead to prosecutions for murder.

But they recommended a broader inquiry at Deepcut and other army bases after their inquiry revealed there had been around 75 "untimely deaths involving firearms or munitions" in the British army between 1991 and 2001, 60 of which had led to suicide or open verdicts.

And Surrey Deputy Chief Constable Bob Quick added on Saturday that although there was no evidence pointing directly to murder at Deepcut, there were "elements in the inquiry which certainly leave open that prospect".

Armed Forces minister Adam Ingram would not rule out an inquiry.

"There are calls for a public inquiry. In order to decide what value such an inquiry might add we will need carefully to consider all relevant issues," Ingram said.

"A decision now would be premature," he said, calling for reports from the police and a parliamentary committee to be finalised first.

"The Ministry of Defence is not shrinking from this issue. It has taken resolute action already and is prepared to take whatever other steps might be deemed necessary," Ingram said.

An independent investigator hired by the families insisted on Saturday it was "virtually impossible" that the gunshot wounds that killed their children were self-inflicted.

Frank Swann told BBC radio he believed the four were "shot and killed by a third party".

"I believe that a judicial public inquiry is something that is directly needed in respect of the deaths, not just at Deepcut but (at army bases in) Catterick (northern England), Northern Ireland, etcetera, that are alleged to be suicides," he said.

The families of the recruits -- Sean Benton, James Collinson, Geoff Gray and Cheryl James -- reject the army's conclusion that the four killed themselves. And they say if that was indeed the case, they want to know what it was about army life that lead their children to take their lives.

Geoff Gray's father, also called Geoff, said on Friday there should be "a Hutton-style inquiry where the army are brought forward to answer questions".

He was referring to the inquiry by judge Lord Brian Hutton into the death of British weapons expert David Kelly, who committed suicide after being named as the source for a BBC report that the government "sexed up" an intelligence dossier to bolster its case for going to war against Iraq.

The families' request for a public inquiry is backed by around a quarter of the British parliament, according to the BBC.

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