Poland says it will probe allegations of CIA prisons

WARSAW -- Poland's prime minister said yesterday that he has ordered an investigation into whether the CIA ran secret prisons for terrorist suspects in the country -- an allegation the government has repeatedly denied.

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said a ''detailed" probe would be conducted to ''check if there is any proof that such an event took place in our country. It is necessary to finally close the issue because it could be dangerous to Poland."

Marcinkiewicz's spokesman, Konrad Ciesiolkiewicz, said he did not know who would carry out the investigation.

More than a half-dozen investigations are underway into whether European countries may have hosted secret US-run prisons in which Al Qaeda suspects were allegedly tortured, and whether European airports and airspace were used for alleged CIA flights transporting prisoners to countries where torture is practiced.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the United States acts within the law and argued that Europeans are safer because of tough US tactics. She declined to discuss intelligence operations or address questions about clandestine CIA detention centers.