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January 10, 2006
Spain: Twenty Suspected Islamists Arrested
Reuters reports that earlier today, 20 individuals suspected of recruiting Islamists to fight with insurgents in Iraq were arrested. One of those detained after overnight raids is said to have organised a suicide bombing in southern Iraq, which killed 19 Italians in 2003.
Jose Antonio Alonso, Spain's interior minister (pictured), said that the people arrested may have planned violent attacks in Europe. 15 Moroccans, three Spaniards, one Turk and an Algerian were taken in raids in Madrid, around Barcelona and in the Basque region.
The individuals, claimed Alonso, had a mission to recruit and to provide logistical and financial support to insurgents fighting in Iraq. He said they had links to others in France, Belgium, Holland, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
On the suicide bombing, Alonso stated that forensic work by Spanish and Italian teams had proven a link between one individual arrested and the attack of 2003 at Nassiriya, Iraq. This bombing was the worst casualty record for Italian troops since WW2.
16 people were arrested in December and two had handed themselves in last month. Of these, six were jailed on Christmas Eve for recruiting people to fight in Iraq, Chechnya and Kashmir. The investigations then had involved a mosque in Malaga on the Costa del Sol. According to Spanish authorities, this mosque has been frequented by individuals with extreme Islamist beliefs.
The individuals who were jailed on Dec 24 were linked to the Algerian group Salafist Group for Preaching & Combat (GSPC), which is said to have links to al-Qaeda.
According to AKI, the Basque location in the list of raids was the town of Lasarte. The individual who carried out the Iraq suicide bombing on 12 November 2003 was called Bellil Belgacem. It is claimed that he had been recruited by Barcelona cell members to go to Iraq.
AKI also claims that one of those taken in the raids is thought to be the imam of Barcelona's Villanova and Geltru district mosques. He may be the leader of the Barcelona cell.
I feel guilty when victims of Islamic terror seem to become numbers, while writing as many details about its perpetrators as one can find. From CNN's list of the victims of the attack on the Italian military police headquarters, here are the 17 individuals named there, with their towns of residence:
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 10, 2006 9:36 AM
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