Berlin denies Libya training role

Germany's elite commandos are trained to combat terrorism

Germany has denied media reports of official involvement in an alleged scheme to train Libyan security forces.

Eight members of a police commando squad have been suspended from their elite SEK unit while an investigation into the alleged training is conducted.

They are suspected of illegally working in their spare time for a private firm that trained Libyan anti-terror police.

Germany's foreign ministry has denied that the embassy in Tripoli supported the firm's training scheme.

Opposition calls

The foreign ministry issued a statement saying that "the German embassy in Tripoli in no way supported the activities" of the firm.

Germany's foreign intelligence agency also denied a report that it had supervised the training.

Opposition politicians have called for a parliamentary committee to examine the issue after the allegations surfaced in German newspapers and magazines.

As many as 30 German anti-terrorism police officers are alleged to have flown to Libya in 2006 while on leave to work for a company founded by a former member of Germany's GSG-9 commando unit.

They were reportedly paid up to 15,000 euros (£12,000; $24,000) each in return for the training programmes.

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's 2003 pledge to dismantle the country's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes helped to end his international isolation.