| January 19, 2008 Spain arrests 14 in terror plot
|
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Police arrested 14 suspected Islamic
militants in early morning raids Saturday, amid fears the men were
plotting a terrorist attack in Barcelona, the interior minister
said.
The suspects, 12 Pakistanis and two Indian nationals, were
arrested less than two months before national elections in Spain.
The country's last vote in March 2004 was held just after the
Madrid train bombings - Europe's worst Islamic-linked terror
attack.
There are fears that Islamic militants could try a similar plot
to disrupt this year's vote, scheduled for March 9.
Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba gave no details on
what sort of an attack allegedly was being plotted, but said
authorities found four timers and other explosives-related material
in some of the suspects' homes.
"When someone has timers at home you have no option but to
think violent acts are being planned," he said, adding that more
arrests were expected and the country was on high security alert.
The minister said the arrests - many which reportedly took place
in Barcelona's Raval neighborhood - were prompted by information
from several unspecified European intelligence agencies. Raval is
home to one of Spain's largest concentrations of Pakistani
immigrants.
Civil Guard officers made the arrests as part of raids planned
with the National Intelligence Center, the Spanish equivalent of
the CIA, Rubalcaba said. Five homes were searched overnight, he
said, and Spanish
newspapers reported that a mosque and an
unauthorized prayer center also had been targeted.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero confirmed the
arrests and said investigations were continuing.
Europe's worst Islamic-linked terror attack took place in Spain
on March 11, 2004, when bombs went off in railway carriages during
the morning rush hour near Madrid's Atocha station. The attack
killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800. Twenty-one people
have been convicted of involvement in that attack.
The Madrid train attacks were claimed by Muslim militants who
said they had acted on behalf of al-Qaida to avenge the presence of
Spanish troops in Iraq, but Spain's courts found no evidence that
al-Qaida ordered, knew about or financed the attacks.
Three days after the carnage, Spaniards ousted the conservative
party of Jose Maria Aznar, a staunch Washington ally who had backed
the U.S.-led war in Iraq. His successor, Zapatero, fulfilled an
electoral pledge and brought the troops home shortly after taking
power.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington,
Spanish police have arrested hundreds of Islamic terrorism
suspects, many in connection with the Madrid attack.
In recent years police also have focused on cells suspected of
recruiting mujahedeen fighters and suicide bombers, or of
collecting money to finance al-Qaida-linked groups abroad.
---
Associated Press Writer Paul Haven contributed to this report.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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