BERLIN, Jan 17, 2006 (AFP) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will cut short a trip to the Middle East this week to answer to reports that Berlin covertly shared sensitive intelligence with the United States during the Iraq war, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The visit was originally scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday and to take in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territoriesn.

Steinmeier will now leave for Cairo Wednesday and give a speech Thursday at an international book fair, at which Germany is the guest country, before returning home.

The spokeswoman said he hoped to reschedule the other visits as soon as possible but that "he had a vested interest in taking part in the debate" Friday before the lower house of parliament on the intelligence affair.

Opposition parties called the 90-minute debate to discuss the previous government's decision to leave two agents of the German intelligence services abroad (BND) in Baghdad despite Berlin's official condemnation of the war.

The Greens, the Free Democrats and the Left Party were to decide later Tuesday whether to open a formal parliamentary probe of the issue.

Steinmeier, who served as then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's chief of staff and coordinated the secret services, is seen as a central figure in the case.

He has said the BND officers passed on information to prevent the bombing of civilian targets and save lives.

But German media reports said the agents helped the US military select targets for bombing, sparking outrage in Germany because of bitter opposition here to the war.