Military chiefs have warned that troops are 'no longer able' to carry out tactical questioning, placing the lives of soldiers at serious risk.

The revised 'Challenge Direct' regulations were introduced after Iraqi detainee Baha Mousa died in custody with 93 injuries after being kicked and punched by soldiers in Basra.

But there is said to be growing concern within the ranks as troops believe the latest rules are so strict that it makes interrogation pointless.

This comes days after it emerged that the CIA subjected detainees to controversial torture techniques including waterboarding, 'rectal feeding' and sleep deprivation.

Despite the global outrage, British military chiefs still fear the current restrictions on interrogators could hinder the gathering of vital information which could prevent terrorist attacks.

There is also growing concern that soldiers could be exposed to legal claims and possible disciplinary action as the rules are so easily breached.

Colonel Tim Collins, a retired Northern Irish military officer, said the rules on interrogations have been tightened up because of the lawyers since he left the British Army.

'The effect of the ambulance-chasing lawyers and the play-it-safe judges is that we have got to the point where we have lost our operational capability to do tactical questioning. That in itself brings risks to the lives of the people we deploy,' he told The Telegraph.

'These insurgents are not nice people. These are criminals. They behead people; they keep sex slaves. They are not normal people.'

The previous policy - known as 'Harsh' – allowed soldiers to show 'psychotic tendencies', and aim 'personal abuse' at a captive who could be 'taunted and goaded'.

They were permitted to 'shout as loud as possible [with] uncontrolled fury' at a captive.

The legality of these techniques were brought into question after the death of Baha Mousa, as the innocent civilian was found to have suffered an 'appalling episode of serious gratuitous violence'.

An inquiry into his death, published in 2011, disclosed that he had been subjected to sustained beatings by soldiers from 1st Battalion the Queen's Lancashire Regiment in September 2003.

(dailymail.co.uk)