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January 12, 2006
Spain: Leader Of Two Islamic Terror Cells Arrested
The Spanish Interior Ministry has announced that a man who led two terrorist cells, a key suspect in the investigation of the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings, has been apprehended. Police arrested 23-year old Omar Nakhcha in Santa Coloma de Gramanet, near Barcelona in Catalonia while walking down a street. The ministry spokesperson announced that Nakhcha was the leader of two terrorist cells which recruited Jihadists to fight in Iraq.
We reported on Tuesday that 20 individuals were arrested, and it is claimed that these were members of the two cells headed by Nakhcha. One of these cells provided logistical support to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) while the other provided forged documents, travel assistance and financing to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, states AKI.
The main members of the cell which carried out the Madrid train bombings blew themselves up at their apartment in the Leganes district of Madrid in April 2004, rather than be taken for questioning. Reuters states that the Interior Ministry claims that Nakhcha assisted Mohamed Afalah, Mohamed Belhadj and Daouh Ouhnane to flee Spain after the Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people. Nakhcha is believed to have been in Belgium at that time, and arranged transport for the three fugitives to Iraq, via Syria.
Afalah is thought to have died in a suicide attack in Iraq in May 2005, and it is thought that the other two fugitives became part of the insurgent forces attacking the coalition and Iraqi military. Mohamed Belhadj rented the apartment which was used by 7 prime suspects in the train bombing, who blew themselves up. Daouh Ouhnane has been linked to the bombings by his fingerprints, left on a plastic bag containing seven detonators.
Expatica states that one of those arrested this week was the imam from a mosque in Vilanova i la Geltru in Catalonia.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 12, 2006 4:58 PM
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