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September 23, 2006
Spain: Muslim Terrorists Planned Attack On Spanish-US Air Base
News from Reuters AlertNet, Zee News and Associated Press reports that Pedro Rubira, a prosecutor of Spain's National Court, has accused six Algerian Muslims of plotting to launch a terror attack upon a US/Spanish military air base in southern Spain.
Though the base is not mentioned by name, it appears to be Rota, a navy port in Cadiz province. Rubira is seeking jail terms totalling six years for the suspects.
The Muslims were among 14 people arrested in 2003, suspected of belonging to a group of radicals, who were plotting attacks within Spanish territory, according to El Pais newspaper. At the time, the authorities had claimed the individuals were members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat or GSPC, which has strong links with Al Qaeda and originates from Algeria. The people originally arrested were Algerians and Moroccans.
The group had been found in possession of chemicals. After four months, a judge ordered that the men be released, as the chemicals found were said to be "harmless". One suspect said that the chemicals were merely "detergent". However, later researches by the FBI showed that, when mixed, the chemicals could form an inflammable agent like napalm.
Judge Baltasar Garzon took over the case after the six men were rearrested in March 2004, and indicted them for belonging to a terror organisation.
The six individuals are: 34-year old Mohamed Tahraoui, who is thought to be the leader of the cell, Mohammed Nebbar, Ali Kouka, Smail Boudjelthi, Souhil Kouka and Mohamed Amine Benoura.
Rubira claims that Tahraoui met another suspect, Said Mohamed Arif in Barcelona in 2002. It was here that a discussion of attacking a military base took place. Arif had been a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He was apprehended in Syria in 2004 and admitted to the plot. to a French magistrate, Jean-Louis Brugiere. When Rubira visted Arif in France, where he had been taken, the suspect refused to talk.
EL Pais said that Mohamed Tahraoui, the suspected leader of the Spanish-based cell had his apartment in Santa Coloma de Gramanet near Barcelona raided in 2003. He had in his possession there a mobile phone, which had been manipulated in the same way as phones from the 2002 Bali bombings and from the Madrid train bombings of March 2004, tampered with to create triggers to detonate explosives.
Pudira is seeking a 32-year sentence for Tahraoui and a 22-year sentence for the other five suspects. Tahraoui's lawyer denies the claims made by the prosecutor.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 23, 2006 2:47 PM
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