Lithuania orders probe into CIA-run secret prison for al-Qaeda suspects

Washington, Dec. 23 (ANI): A a Lithuanian parliamentary committee has ordered a probe into allegations that the US Central Intelligence Agency ran a secret prison in Lithuania where al-Qaeda suspects may have been held.

Lithuania is the third European country believed to have hosted secret CIA jails. Some CIA staff are reported to have used the overseas detention centers to circumvent US law.

Arvydas Anusauskas, head of the national security and defence committee, said the investigation found Lithuanian intelligence opened two detention centres in co-operation with the CIA.

He said: "There were facilities, there were possibilities, there were (CIA] planes, though we can't know what was on board... therefore such a possibility exists."

Top officials were not informed about the jails, and there was no political approval, he said.

Prime minister Andrius Kubilius said it was "a matter of great concern" that such infrastructure existed.

He said he expected good relations with the US to continue, but a strategic partnership could not be an excuse for "Soviet methods, ignoring civilian control of the special services and in breach of existing laws".

ABC News revealed in August that a secret CIA prison operated near Vilnius airport from early 2004 to late 2005 and that CIA planes flew into Lithuania with top-level al-Qaeda suspects. (ANI)