Did Al-Qaeda try to infiltrate the UK’s domestic security service MI5?

It is certainly a question being raised by a conservative MP who is demanding a government inquiry. Patrick Mercer, chairman of a parliamentary sub-committee for counter terrorism, reported to the Daily Telegraph newspaper that he was told six Al- Qaeda operatives tried to break into the UK domestic spy agency. He claims four were immediately rejected. However two of the men, who allegedly tried to join after the July 2005 suicide bombings in London, managed to infiltrate further. Mercer has called on Home Secretary Alan Johnson to explain how far the two, who are thought to have attended Al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan, got down the recruitment chain. So far the Home office has declined to comment.More about: Al-Qaeda, United Kingdom

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