WikiLeaks published details of sites around the globe which the United States considers vital to its interests, prompting criticism that the website is helping militants identify targets for attack.
The details are part of 250,000 diplomatic cables obtained by the campaigning website which are being made public.
The list begins with a cobalt mine in Kinshasa, Congo, and refers to various locations in Europe where drug companies produce insulin, treatment for snakebites and foot and mouth vaccines.
In West Asia, it notes that Qatar will be the largest source of imported liquefied natural gas by 2012 and also refers to the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia, the largest crude oil process and stabilisation plant in the world. Al Qaeda mounted an unsuccessful attack on Abqaiq in 2006 and there were warnings that the WikiLeaks cable setting out so many sensitive targets could help militants.
British foreign secretary William Hague called the publication of the list “particularly reprehensible”. He told BBC Radio: “There is great concern of course about disclosing a list of targets that could be of use to terrorists or saboteurs. I think it is absolutely reprehensible the publication is carried out without regard to wider security concerns.”
John J. LeBeau, a former CIA officer who teaches security studies at the George C. Marshall Centre in Germany, said the list “might put ideas into jihadist heads as to what to profitably target”. —Reuters