CIA destroyed 92 interview tapes

The Central intelligence Agency (CIA) has destroyed 92 tapes of interviews conducted with terror suspects, a US government lawyer has admitted.

The agency had previously said that it had destroyed only two tapes.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has launched a lawsuit against the CIA to seek details of the interrogations of terror suspects.

Techniques involved are understood to have included water-boarding, which the Obama administration says is torture.

The acknowledgment of the 92 destroyed tapes came in a letter sent to the judge presiding over the ACLU lawsuit.

In 2005 a judge ordered the preservation of all evidence regarding the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

In December 2007, the CIA revealed that two tapes from interviews had been destroyed five months after the ruling.

But the agency said the ruling did not apply to the destroyed tapes, as they concerned interrogations that took place before the suspects had been transferred to Guantanamo.

In January 2008, the justice department launched an investigation to answer questions over the tapes.

Tapes were a contentious issue during the trial of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, who was jailed for his part in the attacks.

Prosecutors initially claimed there were no recordings of his interrogation, but then acknowledged video and audio tapes had been made.