U.S. investigates CIA sex allegations in Algeria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is looking into allegations the CIA station chief in Algeria raped at least two Muslim women after lacing their drinks with a drug, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday.

A report by ABC News said the CIA officer, a convert to Islam, was sent back to the United States after the women came forward with the charges in September.

"The U.S. takes very seriously any accusations of misconduct involving any U.S. personnel abroad," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement.

"The individual in question has returned to Washington and the U.S. government is looking into the matter," he said.

Wood referred additional questions to the Justice Department, which declined comment. Justice is heading the investigation, ABC reported.

"I can assure you that the agency would take seriously, and follow up on, any allegations of impropriety," CIA spokesman Mike Mansfield said.

ABC News reported the two women said the separate sexual assaults took place at the official station chief residence.

The network reported the discovery of more than a dozen videotapes showing the CIA officer engaged in sex acts with other women had led the Justice Department to widen the investigation to include Egypt, where the officer had been posted earlier in his career.

(Writing by John Whitesides, additional reporting by Randall Mikkelsen; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)