By NNN-BuaNews
New York : The CIA has confirmed that it destroyed at least two video tapes showing the interrogation of terror suspects.
According to the intelligence agency, the tapes were destroyed to protect the identity of CIA agents and because they no longer had intelligence value.
But civil liberties lawyers have refused to accept this, saying the CIA previously denied such tapes existed.
They say the move appears to be an attempt to destroy evidence that could have brought CIA agents to account.
The New York Times, which broke the story, quotes current and former government officials as saying the CIA destroyed the tapes in 2005 as it faced Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program.
Officials feared the tapes could have raised doubts about the legality of the CIA`s techniques, the newspaper says.
The tapes are thought to have shown the interrogation in 2002 of a number of terror suspects, including Abu Zubaydah, who had been a chief recruiter for the al-Qaeda network.
Water boarding: prisoner bound to a board with feet raised, and cellophane wrapped round his head.