Berlin: German intelligence services
cooperated with the spy network of Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi, a former top official said on Sunday, after documents
emerged appearing to show links between the CIA, MI6 and
Libya.
Bernd Schmidbauer, coordinator of Germany`s secret
services between 1991 and 1998, told the Bild am Sonntag
weekly: "It revolved mainly around information about the fight
against terrorism and therefore Germany`s security interests."
"The Libyan security service had access to sources that
the Germans did not have. Thanks to these sources, we were
able to defend ourselves against terrorist threats to our
country," added Schmidbauer.
However, he stressed that Germany did not carry out joint
operations with the Libyan spies, as the British and American
intelligence services appear to have done. "We did not cross
this line," he said.
Germany`s current government declined to say whether this
cooperation had continued in recent years.
"As in all affairs relating to intelligence, we do not
comment," a government spokesman told a news agency.
Files unearthed from Gaddafi`s intelligence archives and
seen by a news agency appear to document deep cooperation between the
CIA, MI6 and the former Libyan regime, including the shipping
of terror suspects for interrogation.
And in fresh revelations from documents obtained by media
and rights groups in Tripoli, Britain`s Sunday Times said
London invited two of Gaddafi`s sons to the headquarters of
the SAS Special Forces unit in 2006 as former premier Tony
Blair tried to build ties with the Libyan regime.
PTI
