South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is among world leaders believed to have been targeted for phone tapping using spyware.

Known as Pegasus, it infects phones and allows operators to spy on their targets.

Its leaked database is said to include the mobile phone numbers of at least a dozen heads of state and governments.

They are in a list of some 50,000 phone numbers of people believed to be of interest to clients of Israeli-based NSO group - the makers of Pegasus.

Others leaders in the database include French President Emmanuel Macron, President Baram Salih of Iraq and the current prime ministers of Pakistan, Egypt and Morocco, and the King of Morocco.

The list was leaked to major news outlets.

The NSO group denied wrongdoing and said it sold the equipment only to vetted governments to combat crime and terrorism.