London, Aug 1 (DPA) A British MP has called for an investigation into whether British secret service organisation MI5 recruited sympathisers of the international Al Qaeda terrorist network, the Telegraph newspaper reported Saturday.
According to the newspaper, counter-terrorism sub-committee chairman Patrick Mercer made the call after the expulsion from MI5 of six Muslim recruits, of whom two allegedly attended Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan.
Mercer, a member of the opposition Conservative party, said the terrorist bombings on London’s transport network in July 2005 forced the British government to hurriedly expand the country’s security services.
“It was an unseemly rush of which our enemies, not unsurprisingly, took advantage,” he said, adding that he was concerned that more terrorist sympathisers may still be within British security services.
The two recruits who had allegedly been to training camps were not dismissed until after they had been given several weeks of training, Mercer said.