LONDON  —  The British government says a senior intelligence official in the Cabinet office has been suspended after secret government documents were left on a commuter train.

The documents on Al Qaeda and Iraq were found by a passenger on a London commuter train Tuesday. The passenger gave the documents to the British Broadcasting Corp.

The government's decision to suspend the employee comes as police launch a major investigation into the security breach. An internal inquiry is also under way.

One of the documents was a seven-page report on Al Qaeda's weaknesses. The second document was top secret and contained an assessment of Iraq's security forces.