WASHINGTON -- New documents show the CIA destroyed nearly 100 tapes of terror interrogations.

The figure is far higher than the handful of recordings the agency has previously admitted destroying, and the disclosure comes as a criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his investigation in the matter.

The acknowledgment of dozens of destroyed tapes came in a letter filed by government lawyers in New York, where the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit seeking more details of terror interrogation programs.

The tapes became a contentious issue in the trial of September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, after prosecutors initially claimed no such recordings existed, then acknowledged two videotapes and one audiotape had been made.