WikiLeaks said Tuesday it would release more secret US diplomatic cables despite the arrest of its founder Julian Assange in Britain on suspicion of rape.

"Today's actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won't affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal," the whistleblowing website said on its Twitter feed. A journalist working for WikiLeaks said staff were carrying on as normal.

"In terms of what is happening, all is on schedule, all that stuff will keeping rolling out as ever. That's all I can tell you," James Ball, who has been analysing the cables for WikiLeaks, told AFP.

Assange, 39, surrendered to police in London on Tuesday on a Swedish arrest warrant on suspicion of rape and sexual assault. The Australian former computer hacker denies the charges.

He is expected to appear in a magistrates' court in London later Tuesday.
His lawyers have said Sweden's case could be linked to WikiLeaks' decision to release over the past week thousands of confidential US State Department documents.

Several newspapers around the world have had privileged access to the WikiLeaks cables and a spokesman for the website said last week that they have copies of many of the documents.

Assange said last week that he had sent out thousands more encrypted copies which would be released in the event that he or the website were "taken out."

"The cablegate archive has been spread... to over 100,000 people in encrypted form. If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically," he said in a live webchat with the Guardian newspaper.
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