Asked at a press conference in Stockholm when the final batch of 15,000 classified files on the Afghan war would be published, Assange said that "We're about half way through, so a couple of weeks."

The announcement at a seminar on the control of information came after the Pentagon on Friday renewed pressure on the whistleblower website not to release the documents, saying they posed greater risks than previously released files.

"We still are hopeful that WikiLeaks will not publish those documents and put further lives at risk," said Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan.

"We are concerned that the additional documents that they have may cause even greater risks than the ones they released previously," he said, calling them "potentially more damaging".

However, the Australian former computer hacker said that WikiLeaks "will not be threatened by the Pentagon or any other group".

"Organizations that are embarrassed by the release of documents always call for those documents not to be released," he said, ahead of a seminar entitled "The First Casualty of War is Truth".

Assange vowed that all the documents would be published but that there would be some redactions including "the names of innocent parties that are under reasonable threat".

WikiLeaks has already released 76,000 classified documents about the war, including allegations that Pakistani spies met with the Taliban and that deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of international forces were covered up.

But the documents also included the names of some Afghan informants, prompting claims that the leaks have endangered lives.

"These 15,000 documents are the ones that we set aside under the basis that they had certain designations which means that we think they are more likely to contain personal identifying information," Assange said.

"They require line by line review and that has always been the case."

Daniel Schmitt, a WikiLeaks spokesman in Germany, has previously said that the site wanted to open a line of communication with the Pentagon to review the final documents, in order to "make redactions so they can be safely published".

The Pentagon however has insisted it never received any such request from WikiLeaks, while Assange said on Thursday that the site had received "no assistance, despite repeated requests, from the White House or the Pentagon".

The site, which styles itself as "the first intelligence agency of the people", was founded in December 2006 and invited would-be whistleblowers from around the world to make anonymous contributions.

WikiLeaks has never identified the source of the Afghan files but suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst under arrest for allegedly leaking video of a 2007 US Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad in which civilians died.

In an open letter to Assange, media rights group Reporters with Borders said it "regrets the incredible irresponsibility you showed when posting your article 'Afghan War Diary 2004 - 2010' on the WikiLeaks website on 25 July."

The group said WikiLeaks had in the past played a useful role by making public information that exposed violations of human rights committed in the name of the US "war against terror".

"But revealing the identity of hundreds of people who collaborated with the coalition in Afghanistan is highly dangerous.

"It would not be hard for the Taliban and other armed groups to use these documents to draw up a list of people for targeting in deadly revenge attacks," it said.

related report
US commander denounces 'reprehensible' Wikileaks
The top US military commander in Afghanistan on Sunday blasted as "reprehensible" the release of Afghan war documents, saying that US partners named in them have been put at risk.

General David Petraeus's comments came in response to a threat by the founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, to make public another batch of secret documents in a "couple of weeks" despite mounting Pentagon protests.

WikiLeaks has already released 76,000 military documents from the Afghan conflict, but is still holding another 15,000 classified files.

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Petraeus said he was not sure what might be in the unreleased documents, but said the files released so far have contained information that compromised people working with the international forces.

"As we have looked through it more and more, there are source names and in some cases there are actual names of individuals with whom we have partnered in difficult missions in difficult places.

"And obviously, that is very reprehensible."

He said the release of the documents, though consisting of raw documents that were not top secret, was "beyond unfortunate."

"I mean, this is a betrayal of trust," he added.

Assange, an Australian former computer hacker, on Saturday pledged to release the last batch of secret war documents, insisting WikiLeaks "will not be threatened by the Pentagon or any other group."

The 76,000 documents included allegations that Pakistani spies met with the Taliban and that deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of international forces were covered up.

But the documents also included names of some Afghan informants, prompting claims that the leaks have endangered lives.

Assange said the second batch of documents was set aside because they were "more likely to contain personal identifying information," and therefore required line by line review.

Wikileaks has never identified the source of the Afghan files but suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst under arrest for allegedly leaking video of a 2007 US helicopter strike in Baghdad in which civilians died.

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