blackkn
12-19-2005, 19:11
Arrests in Spain 'linked to Iraq'
By CNN's Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
Monday, December 19, 2005; Posted: 9:06 a.m. EST (14:06 GMT)
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish police early Monday arrested 15 people suspected of recruiting and indoctrinating others to be sent to fight against Western forces in Iraq, according to Spain's interior minister, Jose Antonio Alonso.
The arrests included an Iraqi man Spanish authorities said was linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
An Interior Ministry press release said eight Moroccans, an Iraqi, an Egyptian, a Frenchman, a Ghanian, a Bellarussian, a Saudi, and a Spaniard were also among those arrested.
"The network of the people arrested aimed to recruit and indoctrinate mujahideen or holy warriors to be sent to fight in Iraq," Alonso said, adding that the group "had contact with the hard core of al Qaeda in Iraq."
The press release identified the Iraqi -- Hiyag M., alias abu Sufian -- as the main suspect of the investigation and said he "directed and maintained the communications abroad and with Iraq where he had very close access to the al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al Zarqawi."
The Spaniard, identified as Jose Antonio D.M., was a convert to Islam who was well-off financially. He helped finance the operation, the interior ministry said. He and Abu Sufian were known to have traveled abroad together, and the Spaniard sent "large amounts of money" to Abu Sufian when the Iraqi was abroad alone, the ministry said.
The Spaniard and the Iraqi lived in Nerja with a Moroccan named Bahbah el H., who had formerly been imam of a mosque in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the Moroccan coast.
The arrests occurred in the southern cities of Seville and Malaga, the eastern provincial capital of Lerida -- near Barcelona -- and in Spain's Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the minister said.
More than 100 police officers are participating in the operation, which is on-going. Alonso said the network was part of a "current strategy" being used by al Qaeda in several countries.
The group members kept in contact with each other -- and others outside Spain -- via the Internet, he said.
The operation uprooting the network began in January 2005, Alonso said. In Seville, he said, police found bomb-making components, but said they "lacked other components" necessary to make a complete bomb.
There was no evidence, he said, they were trying to carry out an attack in Spain. The group had two mujahideen ready to be sent to Iraq, he said.
The minister would not say if the group had helped any suspects from the Madrid train bombings escape into Iraq. There was a report earlier this year that one train bombing suspect did escape into Iraq, where he later carried out a suicide bombing.
The raids came on the heels of recent arrests in Spain involving mainly Algerians suspected of providing logistical and financial support to al Qaeda.
The court ordered seven Algerians to remain in jail after earlier operations in late November and early December, while others also arrested at the time were released by the court after their arraignments.
Spain's Interior Ministry linked the suspects from the November arrests to an Algerian-based radical Islamic organization, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which the ministry described as the Algerian branch of al Qaeda.
It was not immediately clear if there was any connection between the suspects arrested Monday and the suspects arrested earlier in the alleged al Qaeda logistical support scheme.
By CNN's Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
Monday, December 19, 2005; Posted: 9:06 a.m. EST (14:06 GMT)
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish police early Monday arrested 15 people suspected of recruiting and indoctrinating others to be sent to fight against Western forces in Iraq, according to Spain's interior minister, Jose Antonio Alonso.
The arrests included an Iraqi man Spanish authorities said was linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
An Interior Ministry press release said eight Moroccans, an Iraqi, an Egyptian, a Frenchman, a Ghanian, a Bellarussian, a Saudi, and a Spaniard were also among those arrested.
"The network of the people arrested aimed to recruit and indoctrinate mujahideen or holy warriors to be sent to fight in Iraq," Alonso said, adding that the group "had contact with the hard core of al Qaeda in Iraq."
The press release identified the Iraqi -- Hiyag M., alias abu Sufian -- as the main suspect of the investigation and said he "directed and maintained the communications abroad and with Iraq where he had very close access to the al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al Zarqawi."
The Spaniard, identified as Jose Antonio D.M., was a convert to Islam who was well-off financially. He helped finance the operation, the interior ministry said. He and Abu Sufian were known to have traveled abroad together, and the Spaniard sent "large amounts of money" to Abu Sufian when the Iraqi was abroad alone, the ministry said.
The Spaniard and the Iraqi lived in Nerja with a Moroccan named Bahbah el H., who had formerly been imam of a mosque in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the Moroccan coast.
The arrests occurred in the southern cities of Seville and Malaga, the eastern provincial capital of Lerida -- near Barcelona -- and in Spain's Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the minister said.
More than 100 police officers are participating in the operation, which is on-going. Alonso said the network was part of a "current strategy" being used by al Qaeda in several countries.
The group members kept in contact with each other -- and others outside Spain -- via the Internet, he said.
The operation uprooting the network began in January 2005, Alonso said. In Seville, he said, police found bomb-making components, but said they "lacked other components" necessary to make a complete bomb.
There was no evidence, he said, they were trying to carry out an attack in Spain. The group had two mujahideen ready to be sent to Iraq, he said.
The minister would not say if the group had helped any suspects from the Madrid train bombings escape into Iraq. There was a report earlier this year that one train bombing suspect did escape into Iraq, where he later carried out a suicide bombing.
The raids came on the heels of recent arrests in Spain involving mainly Algerians suspected of providing logistical and financial support to al Qaeda.
The court ordered seven Algerians to remain in jail after earlier operations in late November and early December, while others also arrested at the time were released by the court after their arraignments.
Spain's Interior Ministry linked the suspects from the November arrests to an Algerian-based radical Islamic organization, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which the ministry described as the Algerian branch of al Qaeda.
It was not immediately clear if there was any connection between the suspects arrested Monday and the suspects arrested earlier in the alleged al Qaeda logistical support scheme.