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Wednesday, Dec 5, 2012 2:47 PM UTC

MI6 allegedly refused to kill al-Qaida leader

A Danish informant claims the British spy agency declined because it would have been against the law

By , GlobalPost

Topics: GlobalPost, Denmark, al qaeda, Britain, MI6, ,

MI6 allegedly refused to kill al-Qaida leaderAnwar al-Awlaki(Credit: AP/SITE Intelligence Group)
This article originally appeared on GlobalPost.

Global Post A Danish informant said that the British spy agency MI6 allegedly refused to kill Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki because it was against the law.

Morten Storm, a former biker who was hired by MI6 to infiltrate Al Qaeda, converted to Islam and dabbled with radical Islamism before turning into a spy for Western governments.

Storm, 36, says that after telling MI6 of al-Awlaki’s whereabouts they refused to kill him, stating that they were an intelligence agency that does not involve itself with killings abroad, said the Daily Mail.

UPI reported that Storm was told that al-Awlaki did not threaten British lives and therefore Britain could not kill him.

The US and Europe believed that al-Awlaki was a major player in Al Qaeda, inspiring the so-called “underwear bomber” and the 7/7 bus attacks in London. An American citizen, he was killed in a CIA drone strike in September 2011.

Storm was said to be key in tracking down al-Awlaki by introducing the Al Qaeda leader to his future wife.

The Danish national has fallen out of favor with the spy agencies for revealing the plot, said CNN.

The CIA has maintained that it was not the intelligence given to them by Storm that led to al-Awlaki’s killing but instead information from a “parallel operation.”

But Storm says he is angry that he was not credited for the killing, and that he came forward because he feared a CIA reprisal after the events.

Storm has a checkered background that includes numerous criminal charges and drug use. He is said to have converted to Islam in prison to escape a life of crime, reported the Telegraph. He had his change of heart in 2006 and became a double agent for the Danish secret service, PET.

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