MADRID, Nov 4: A son of Osama bin Laden who grabbed headlines by marrying a British woman last year has flown to Spain and requested asylum, the Spanish government said on Tuesday.

Omar Osama bin Laden, 27, is a metals trader who had been living in Cairo, Egypt with his wife. He has not renounced his father, but has said he wants to be an “ambassador for peace” between the Muslim world and the West.

His wife said, however, that he was denied a British residency request this year after officials there said he had demonstrated continuing loyalty to his father.

Omar Osama bin Laden — one of the Al Qaeda leader’s 19 children — arrived in Madrid on Monday on a flight from Cairo, an interior ministry official said. He was travelling on a Saudi passport.—AP