MI6, Gaddafi and the mosque sting to lure al-Qaeda terrorist

MI6 and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan intelligence service set up a radical mosque in a Western European city in order to lure in al-Qaeda terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The operation, which had the potential to backfire if a terrorist cell launched an attack using the location as a base, was run behind the backs of Western allies in the chosen city. The joint operation, which was undertaken as Britain attempted to secure a deal with Col Gaddafi to reopen diplomatic relations, shows how closely Britain's Secret Intelligence Service was prepared to work with his regime's spies despite widespread allegations of human rights abuses. At the time, Britain was encouraging Col Gaddafi to give up plans for weapons of mass destruction. Four months later, the dictator and Tony Blair, then prime minister, struck the 2004 "deal in the desert" which ended Libya's pariah status. The cooperation extended to recruiting an agent to infiltrate an al-Qaeda terrorist cell in the Western European city, which cannot be named for security reasons.