It conducted a poll of its Twitter followers to decide whether to publish the documents, which it initially said was running at "100 to one" in favour of publishing. WikiLeaks did not disclose the final tallies, nor how many individuals responded to its poll.

"Some of the new cables have reportedly not been redacted and show the names of informants in various countries, including Israel, Jordan, Iran and Afghanistan," it said in a statement. "While it has not been demonstrated that lives have so far been put in danger by these revelations, the repercussions they could have for informants, such as dismissal, physical attacks and other reprisals, cannot be neglected."