'CIA, foreign agencies in anti-terror network'

Citing current and former American and foreign intelligence officials, the newspaper said the CIA has operated the joint intelligence centres in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The Americans and their counterparts at the secret Counterterrorist Intelligence Centres, known as CTICs, make daily decisions on when and how to capture suspects, interrogations and detentions and how to disrupt al-Qaeda support.

The CTICs are separate from the covert CIA prisons known as "black sites" that the CIA has run in eight countries, The Washington Post said.

It said the CIA declined comment for the article.

The newspaper said the CTICs were "part of a fundamental, continuing shift in the CIA's mission that began shortly after the 2001 attacks" and was orchestrated by former CIA director George Tenet.

Earlier European governments have avoided pressing Washington to address allegations it runs secret prisons in the region despite growing public concern over US detainee policies, diplomats said on Thursday.

In the face of persistent media questions, the Bush administration has refused to confirm or deny newspaper reports and rights groups' accusations this month it has kept Islamic militants incommunicado in Europe.

European media have increasingly delved in recent weeks into CIA flights suspected of transferring "ghost detainees" around the continent and some countries have begun looking into the movements.