Secret documents belonging to the National Security Agency (NSA) leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden, has revealed the US was spying on Abdullah Ahmad Badawi during his tenure as Malaysian prime minister.

 

According to German magazine Der Spiegel which had sighted the documents, Abdullah's name was at the top of the alphabetical list containing 122 names targeted for surveillance.

 

"The document is a presentation from the NSA's Center for Content Extraction, whose multiple tasks include the automated analysis of all types of text data," the report said.

 

Aside from Abdullah, other names contained in the list include German chancellor Angela Merkel, Syrian president Bashar Assad ( left ) and then Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

 

However, the report noted the documents did not provide sufficient information to determine the forms of surveillance these leaders were subjected to.

 

The latest revelation comes after Wisma Putra in November last year summoned US, Australia and Singapore representatives to protest allegations of spying on the country which came to light after Snowden's expose.

 

According to documents released at that time, Intelligence agencies of US, UK, Australia and Singapore had cooperated to spy on countries in South East Asia.

 

It was also reported that US and Australian embassies in the region were used as secret bases to tap communications and collect intelligence. 

 

Snowden, a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency, is now in exile in Russia after leaking some 200,000 documents which exposed the US' global espionage activities.