COPENHAGEN, November 10, 2010 (AFP) - Police and prosecutors have opened investigations across the Nordic region into claims that US embassies have carried out illegal surveillance, with several new probes announced Wednesday.

Just days after investigations were launched in Norway and Sweden, the justice ministers of both Denmark and Iceland said they had asked police to investigate the US embassy surveillance programmes in their countries.

Finland's top data protection official also said he had requested a probe.

The announcements came after a week of revelations across the region of US embassy surveillance programmes that for the past decade have kept tabs on happenings around the mission buildings, but also reportedly extend to monitoring demonstrations and storing personal information about protestors.

Washington has acknowledged conducting surveillance through its embassies, but has insisted the programme is aimed solely at protecting its missions against attack and is carried out within the laws of the host countries.

A State Department spokesman traced the origins of the surveillance programme to the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Authorities in Norway and Sweden have said they were never informed of the programme and are investigating if the US embassies violated national laws.

Danish Justice Minister Lars Barfoed said Wednesday: "I have no knowledge at all about illegal activities conducted by the USA via its embassy."

But "in the light of the cases in Norway and Sweden, the Ministry of Justice considered it right to make sure no activities take place that are against Danish law," Barfoed said in a statement.

"PET (security police) will therefore meet the American embassy in order to make sure that the United States is aware of the judicial frames that apply to surveillance and protection of the embassy," he added.

Reports have also surfaced criticising the US embassy surveillance in Reykjavik, and Icelandic Justice Minister Ogmundur Jonasson told AFP late Tuesday he had asked police to investigate.

"I requested information on two things: whether the police is aware of increased security or spying on behalf of the United States ... and whether the Icelandic police has cooperated in such assignments," he said.

"I have announced to parliament that I will present the results to them once the head of police has completed an investigation."

In Finland, the Supo security police said earlier this week the United States had provided a sufficient explanation for its surveillance there and that it would not launch an investigation.

The country's Data Protection Ombudsman however said Wednesday he had asked Supo to clarify if the surveillance violated privacy laws.

"I am interested in knowing how this surveillance happens, whether it is limited to the area around the embassy, and whether the information collected was passed on to a third party," the ombudsman, Reijo Aarnio, told AFP.

He said he had made his request to Supo on Tuesday and was looking at the matter from a personal privacy standpoint, and not from the point of view of national security.