U.S. spy agencies have concluded in a new report that the Iraq war has amplified overall terror threat by giving rise to a new wave of extremism, U.S. mainstream media reported Sunday.

The report said rather than contributing to eventual victory in the war on terror, the situation in Iraq has worsened the U.S. position, both The Washington Post and The New York Times reported, quoting government sources.

Completed in April, the 30-page National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) titled "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States," is the first formal assessment of global terrorism by U.S. intelligence community since the Iraq war began in 2003 and represents a consensus view of the 16 different spy services.

The report believed that the "centrality" of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the insurgency that followed, have become the leading inspiration for new extremist groups and cells that are united by little more than anti-Western agenda.

The conclusions of the NIE appeared to contradict starkly with repeated claims by U.S. President George W. Bush that Iraq holds the key to the final victory of war on terror.

The report did not make specific predictions, like when will be the next attack on U.S. soil, but said the overall terror threat has increased since the 9/11 attacks.

However, White House spokesman Peter Watkins rejected the tone of media reports about the NIE, saying they are not "representative of the complete document," though he did not mention any content of the classified report.

Editor: Yan