January 19, 2008 Spain arrests 14 suspected terrorists

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Spanish police on Saturday arrested 14 people suspected of links with Islamic terrorism, the prime minister and Interior Ministry said.

Civil Guard officers made the arrests in the northern port city of Barcelona as part of raids planned with the National Intelligence Center, the Spanish equivalent of the CIA, a ministry statement said.

Authorities did not rule out more arrests, the ministry said. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero confirmed the report to journalists and said the investigations continued.

Officials gave no further information, but the newspaper El Pais said on its Web site that officers searched a mosque, several homes and an unofficial prayer site.

Most of those so far detained were believed to be Pakistani nationals, Europa Press Agency said, while Spanish TV news channel CNN+ reported that traces of chemicals that could be linked to explosive material had been seized for analysis.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba was due to give more details at a midday news conference, the ministry said.

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 injured more than 1,800. Twenty-one people have been convicted of involvement in that attack.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks

In recent years police have focused on cells suspected of recruiting mujahedeen fighters and suicide bombers, or of collecting money to finance Al-Qaida-linked groups abroad.

The 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 al-Qaida ordered or financed the attacks.