LONDON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Al-Qaida sympathizers have attempted to infiltrate British security service MI5 during its recent campaign to recruit more agents from diverse backgrounds, a news report said on Tuesday.

    A number of potential infiltrators were weeded out during a six-to-eight months vetting process which followed their application to join the organization, The Guardian newspaper quoted security sources as saying.

    A key part of the huge recruitment drive has been to employ more people from ethnic minority backgrounds to bolster the agency's counter-terrorism capability. Around 100,000 candidates have applied for just 400 jobs.

    Staff numbers are expected to grow by more than 50 percent during the next two years to 3,500, with more than half devoted to counter-terrorism.

    According to the BBC, tens of thousands of people annually apply to join MI5, but only a handful in comparison make it through to final selection. Applicants' backgrounds and sympathies are intensively investigated.

    Created in 1909 as the British security intelligence agency, MI5 is responsible for protecting Britain against covertly organized threats to national security, which include terrorism, espionage and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Enditem