Defence ministry officials said that security guards called the police after finding the "media plan" relating to the Kelly affair in a sack of classified waste being prepared for incineration, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Officially, the defence ministry was saying late Friday that it was an insignificant document that had no importance for the independent inquiry into Kelly's death and that security guards had "overreacted", the right-wing newspaper said.

The newspaper said that the attempt to destroy documents would raise suspicions of a cover-up as the defence ministry fended off allegations that it was at fault in the leaking of Kelly's name to the media.

Kelly apparently took his own life nine days after being exposed as the source behind a controversial BBC report claiming that the government "sexed up" its September dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

WAR.WIRE