Foreign news outlets to publish leaked ASIO documents

Al-Jazeera is reportedly in possession of hundreds of top secret cables from the some of the world's top intelligence agencies including ASIO and plans to publish the confidential documents over the coming days.

The cables which date from 2006 to December last year will be published in collaboration with the UK's Guardian newspaper and promise to offer "an unprecedented insight into operational dealings of the shadowy and highly politicised realm of global espionage".

The documents have been obtained from a number of the world's most well-known intelligence agencies including Britain's MI6, Israel's Mossad, Russia's FSB and ASIO.

No American intelligence agencies appear to have been caught up in the scandal.

The reports will be redacted before publication but will allegedly include details about Israel's "true" assessment of Iran's nuclear capabilities, an MI6 operation to recruit a North Korean spy and an "assassination plot targeting an African Union leader" .

The source of the documents is reportedly a leak in South Africa's SSA.