Terror suspect photos spark Pentagon probe

- BBC World News

The Pentagon is investigating how unauthorised photographs apparently showing terror suspects in transit on an American military aircraft have appeared on the internet.

A series of four pictures showing detainees blindfolded and restrained while being guarded by US military personnel were sent to news organisations and were published on the website of a US radio host.

The photographs are the first of their kind showing the security measures used in transporting prisoners captured in Afghanistan to have reached the public domain.

America's treatment of detainees has been a source of controversy, with civil liberties groups accusing the US of violating the suspects' rights under international law.

The United States has said it does not recognise the suspects as prisoners-of-war (PoW), but as illegal combatants for whom the Geneva Convention on the treatment of PoWs does not apply.

- Human rights

Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Lapan said that the pictures do not show prisoners rights being violated.

"There is no indication that the treatment of the prisoners is not in accord with official procedures," he said.

"It is the taking and distributing of the pictures that is a concern."

The photographs show prisoners secured to the floor of an aircraft with straps, wearing hoods or blindfolds, and with chains around their legs.

In one picture, an American flag is seen hung behind the prisoners.

Officials say they do not know who took the pictures - whether they were authorised or were for a soldier's personal use.

Colonel Lapan said the pictures suggested the aircraft was a C-130, but that that type of aircraft was not used to transport prisoners to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

He said it was likely the photographs were of a transportation within Afghanistan.