It appears Google has replaced recent satellite imagery of British military bases in Basra with pre-war snaps following Army claims that terrorists were using Google Earth to plan attacks on its facilities.

According to a recent report in the Telegraph, “documents seized during raids on the homes of insurgents last week uncovered print-outs from photographs taken from Google”. The images showed in detail “the buildings inside the bases and vulnerable areas such as tented accommodation, lavatory blocks, and where lightly armoured Land Rovers are parked”.

On the back of one set of images showing the Shatt al Arab hotel - home to 1,000 men of the Staffordshire Regiment battle group - insurgents had written the “precise longitude and latitude”.

An intelligence officer with the Royal Green Jackets battle group said: “This is evidence as far as we are concerned for planning terrorist attacks. Who would otherwise have Google Earth imagery of one of our bases?

“We are concerned that they use them to plan attacks. We have never had proof that they have deliberately targeted any area of the camp using these images but presumably they are of great use to them.

“We believe they use Google Earth to identify the most vulnerable areas, such as tents.”