Edward Snowden document reveals NSA targeted 122 world leaders for surveillance

A new report has revealed that the leaked documents released by National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden said that the agency had targeted a total of 122 world leaders for surveillance.

The report published in Der Spiegel stated that while the list comprised the names of 11 world leaders that have been targeted by a system known as Nymrod, the document showed that the actual number of targeted world leaders was 122.

The system is designed to automatically extract citations ("cites") out of a multiplicity of sources, including voice and computer communications, The Verge reported.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and former Ukranian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko were among the obvious targets listed by name.

According to Der Spiegel, the NSA had more than 300 files on Merkel in the database.

The document revealed that many other leaders reportedly had "cites" automatically added to a "Target Knowledge Database".