Security has been stepped up at US facilities in Bahrain coinciding with the release of a report on the use of torture in CIA interrogations.

Additional police patrols and National Guard personnel were visible around the US Embassy, in Zinj, amid concerns that it could be targeted over the contents of the report, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

American representatives in Bahrain declined to comment, but a US defence official told CNN that thousands of marines around the world were deployed on alert - including three teams of about 50 marines each in Bahrain, Spain and Japan who are trained to reinforce US embassies under threat.

"There are some indications that ... the release of the report could lead to a greater risk that is posed to US facilities and individuals all around the world," White House spokesman Josh Earnest was quoted as saying by CNN.

"So the administration has taken the prudent steps to ensure that the proper security precautions are in place at US facilities around the globe."

Reports said that security measures included a 2,000-strong contingency response force in the Middle East plus 2,200 on several ships in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Reuters reported that US intelligence agencies secretly circulated a bulletin warning of possible violent reactions to the torture report overseas.

The 480-page summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee report details the CIA's campaign against Al Qaeda in the aftermath of 9/11.

It charts the history of the CIA's "Rendition, Detention and Interrogation" programme, which former US president George W Bush authorised after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

President Bush ended many aspects of the programme before leaving office and incumbent President Barack Obama is said to have later banned so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" after his 2009 inauguration.

Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said "there is certainly the possibility that the release of this report could cause unrest" and therefore combatant commands have been directed to take protective measures.

The report includes disturbing new details about the CIA's use of such techniques as sleep deprivation, confinement in small spaces, humiliation and the simulated drowning process known as waterboarding.

It also asserts that the CIA lied about the covert programme to officials at the White House, the Justice Department and congressional oversight committees. President Obama has said: "We tortured some folks." - TradeArabia News Service