CIA interrogators threatened to rape family members of terror suspects, execute their kids, even torture them with an electric drill, official documents released today show, as the US Attorney General announced a probe.

The revelations came in a declassified 2004 report by the then-CIA inspector general, which catalogued the threats and harsh interrogation tactics used against suspects at secret overseas prisons.

In this image from the CIA, the cover of a special review of a newly declassified CIA document describes how interrogators threatened to kill the children of one September 11 suspect and may have threatened to sexually assault the mother of another detainee. Credit:AP

Its release coincided with US Attorney General Eric Holder naming a prosecutor, Assistant US Attorney John Durham, to review the CIA interrogations and report back to him on whether the evidence warranted a full investigation.

The more than 100-page CIA report released today provided a litany of evidence that Durham will have to pore over, much of which was not available to the public as massive sections had been blacked out.