US refused to give UK full details of 'Mumbai-style' terror plot fearing exposure of sources

London, Apr 5 (ANI): US intelligence services refused to give UK spy agencies complete details of a "Mumbai-style" terrorist plot by Al-qaeda on British soil because they feared it would disclose top-secret sources, it has emerged.

The CIA warned MI6 that the terror group was planning an attack 18 months ago, but withheld detailed information because of concerns it would be released by British courts.

According to Whitehall sources, British intelligence agencies were subsequently forced to carry out their own investigations, The Telegraph reports.

Several potential terrorists were identified with links to a wider European plot, but it is still not known whether the UK authorities have uncovered the full extent of the threat.

According to the paper, the breakdown in relations came after the release of US intelligence in the case of Binyam Mohamed, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who took legal action over his incarceration.

The government was subsequently forced to pay millions in compensation to him and other detainees.

MI6 was said to have been particularly "frustrated" after receiving "only the tip, not the intelligence" about a plot in which armed terrorists dressed as civilians were planning to mount an indiscriminate attack in the UK.

The plot echoed an attack by extremists in Mumbai in 2008, which led to the deaths of 174 people.

According to the paper, the CIA is believed to have retrieved substantial intelligence about potential threats to Britain from documents seized during the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

Although information has been passed to British authorities from the intelligence "cache", it is said to be far from a full read-out. (ANI)