The revelation might spark tensions between the West and Libya’s new rulers.

In Washington, CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood refused to comment Saturday on any specific allegation related to the documents.

“It can’t come as a surprise that the Central Intelligence Agency works with foreign governments to help protect our country from terrorism and other deadly threats,” Youngblood said. “That is exactly what we are expected to do.”

British Foreign Secretary William Hague refused to be drawn into the issue, saying they related to the previous government. Hague was speaking to Britain’s Sky News television from a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Sopot, Poland.

Asked what he made of the disclosures, Hague replied: “Nothing, actually, because first of all what we’re engaged on is the task of what happens next in Libya, which is a huge task.

“On the subject of these apparent disclosures, they related to a period under the previous government so I have no knowledge of what was happening behind the scenes at that time.

“I can’t comment on intelligence matters on that or any other aspect of intelligence matters because, as people understand, once we start on that there’s no end to that.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “It is the long-standing policy of the government not to comment on intelligence matters.” British newspaper The Independent said the documents, reportedly found at a Libyan government building, showed that Britain passed details of exiled opponents to Qaddafi’s spies.

The Independent said the documents would raise questions about the ties that Britain and the United States forged with the Tripoli regime as Western powers tried to bring Libya out of isolation.

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, which found the documents, called the ties between Washington and Qaddafi’s regime “a very dark chapter in American intelligence history, and it remains a stain on the record of the American intelligence services that they cooperated with these very abusive intelligence services.”

The documents provided new details on the ties between Western countries and Qaddafi’s regime. Many of those same countries backed the NATO attacks that helped Libya’s rebels force Qaddafi from power.

One notable case is that of Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, commander of the anti-Qaddafi rebel force that now controls Tripoli. Belhaj is the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a now-dissolved militant group with links to Al-Qaeda. Belhaj says he was tortured by CIA agents at a secret prison, then returned to Libya.

Two documents from March 2004 appear to be American correspondence to Libyan officials to arrange Belhaj’s rendition.

Referring to him by his nom de guerre, Abdullah Al-Sadiq, the documents say he will be flown from Kuala Lumpur to Libya and ask for Libyan government agents to accompany him.

They also request American “access to Al-Sadiq for debriefing purposes once he is in your custody.” “Please be advised that we must be assured that Al-Sadiq will be treated humanely and that his human rights will be respected,” the document says.

The discovery came as the Libyan rebels said they would surround pro-Qaddafi cities until the Sept. 10 deadline for their surrender.

“We are by the grace of God in a position of strength, capable of entering any city, to deploy any of our fighters in any direction,” the head of the rebels’ National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, told reporters in Benghazi. “However, in our desire to avoid bloodshed and to avoid more destruction to public properties and national institutions, we have given an ultimatum of one week to the areas of Sirte, Bani Walid, Jufra and Sabha.

“It is an opportunity for these cities to peacefully join the revolution,” he said, adding the rebels were providing humanitarian aid to the besieged areas along with water and electricity services.