U.S. spy agency monitored calls of 35 world leaders: British daily

Just one day after allegations were made that U.S. National Security Agency targeted German Chancellor Angela Merkel`s mobile phone, new suspicions were raised Thursday that the U.S. spy agency monitored the phone calls of at least 35 foreign leaders.

The Guardian, a British daily, reported that a secret document, leaked by former CIA employee Edward Snowden, showed the NSA "routinely" monitored telephone conversations by foreign leaders and influential politicians. The daily also reported that the NSA received the phone numbers of wiretapped foreign leaders from U.S. government officials.

The document obtained by the Guardian dates to October 2006, when the then U.S. President George W. Bush was serving his second term in office. According to the document reported by the daily, the NSA encouraged its employees to contact senior officials in other U.S. government agencies to seek out their "rolodexes" that include "foreign political or military leaders." The document highlighted a case in which a U.S. official provided the NSA with a total of 200 phone numbers, including those of 35 world leaders. However, the document did not specify the names of the U.S. official was or the foreign leaders.

The Guardian reported that the document suggested U.S. government officials were directly or indirectly involved in the eavesdropping.