Documents shed light on CIA torture programme

CIA lawyers sought guarantees the US spy agency would never be prosecuted for torturing suspects after the September 11, 2001 attacks, while other staff warned the programme was an impending "train wreck", documents showed on Tuesday.

The correspondence provides a new glimpse into tussles within the CIA as it implemented its notorious "enhanced interrogation" techniques aimed at thwarting further attacks.

Fifty documents, released under a freedom of information request from the American Civil Liberties Union, detail the early days of the CIA's use of torture, after then-president George W Bush directed the agency to detain terror suspects around the world.

A July 2002 draft letter from CIA lawyers to the attorney general sought legal protections before agents interrogated Abu Zubaydah, an alleged Al-Qaeda member who is still detained at Guantanamo Bay.