London, Aug 4 (DPA) The British government came under increased pressure Tuesday to answer allegations that its intelligence agencies were complicit in the torture of terrorism suspects abroad.

The Joint Human Rights Committee of the British parliament said in a report that there was now a 'disturbing number of credible allegations' of British complicity in torture concerning suspects detained in the wake of the Sep 11, 2001 attacks in the US.

'The allegations we have heard about UK complicity in torture are extremely serious,' said committee chairman Andrew Dismore. He described the report as a 'wake-up-call' to the government to examine current rules and practices.

'We look to the government to respond positively to our recommendations and not to continue to hide behind their wall of secrecy,' said Dismore.

The allegations raised in the report include alleged abuse of British resident Binyam Mohamed in 2002, before being taken to Guantanamo Bay.

Mohamed was freed from the US camp in February and now lives in London.

But the committee also scrutinised the cases of a number of British men who were detained as terrorism suspects and allege to have been mistreated in Pakistan.

They include Salauddin Amin, who claims that Britain was complicit in alleged torture he suffered following his arrest in Pakistan, and Rangzieb Ahmed, who claims his fingernails were pulled out by a Pakistani official while British intelligence supplied the material for questions asked by his interrogators.

But in all the cases, the parliamentary committee said it could not get to the facts because 'too many questions were not being properly answered'.