LONDON, Dec. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- British police have launched an investigation into persistent claims that the CIA used British airports to fly terrorist suspects to secret camps abroad for torture, the Independent newspaper reported on Tuesday.

    Days after Tony Blair insisted he knew nothing about such "extraordinary rendition operations", the move by the Association of Chief Police Officers threatens to embarrass the government.

    Renditions are a controversial practice in which detainees are transferred between countries without legal process.

    It is also the first attempt by the authorities to examine detailed claims that CIA flights have touched down more than 200 times in Britain.

    Michael Todd, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, is expected to review evidence collected by human rights campaigners and interview senior police officers from 10 forces across the country, the paper said.

    The investigation will try to establish whether there is evidence to back claims that CIA flights used British airports as stop-off points while carrying terror suspects to secret detention camps around the world.

    Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative chairman of the parliamentary all-party group on rendition, has welcomed the investigation and urged civil servants with knowledge of illegal rendition flights to report their evidence to their departmental heads.

    Several European countries have reportedly started similar investigations into claims that the CIA sent prisoners through European airports to face torture in secret detention centers in breach of international and domestic laws.    Enditem