Secret dungeons found in Peru

Mr Montesinos was involved in the campaign to root out rebel groups

Peru's Prime Minister, Federico Salas, says six underground cells used for the secret detention and interrogation of prisoners have been discovered in the basement of the National Intelligence Service.

He said he had received information that the sound-proofed cells were used to hold a former Shining Path rebel leader, Oscar Ramirez, and other prisoners.

President Fujimori has distanced himself from his former ally

The feared intelligence service is being dismantled after the agency's head, Vladimiro Montesinos, became involved in a bribery scandal that sparked two months of political turmoil.

Correspondents say the discovery will lend credence to claims that many of the Peruvian Government's political opponents were tortured in underground chambers.

On the run

Mr Salas's admission about the cells comes just weeks after the government denied their existence.

But the prime minister said he could not verify whether torture was carried out in the underground dungeons.

Mr Montesinos went on the run shortly after a video was aired showing him apparently bribing an opposition politician to switch to the government party.

Bribery allegations led to protests demanding Mr Montesinos' arrest

He is wanted for crimes including blackmail, extortion, money laundering and drug trafficking.

The former spy chief is known as "Rasputin" for his power behind the throne during President Alberto Fujimori's 10-year rule.

In the early 90s, Mr Montesinos and Mr Fujimori smashed the Shining Path, once one of the most feared guerrilla groups in Latin America.

Suspicions that the intelligence agency used torture gained credence in 1997, when spy officer Leonor la Rosa claimed he had been burned by fellow agents in an underground cell because he allegedly leaked secrets.

In a separate development, the ex-wife of the Peruvian president, Susana Higuchi, has said she was tortured on the orders of her former husband, Mr Fujimori, and Mr Montesinos.

Since the couple's bitter divorce, Mrs Higuchi has been one of Mr Fujimori's strongest critics.

She became an opposition member of congress earlier this year.

Peru acquired one of the worst human rights records under Mr Fujimori's rule.