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January 5, 2007
Spain: Six Arrested Over Islamist Train Bombing
News from Reuters, EITB, Associated Press, DPA and Independent Online:
On March 11, 2004, a series of bombs, placed in rucksacks and detonated by cellular phone, exploded on trains in Madrid. 29 people have so far been indicted for the attacks, which killed 191 people and injured 1,750. These 29 will go on trial in February.
On Wednesday, five Muslim men were arrested, who have been named as Zohaib Khadiri, Djilali Boussiri, Nasreddine Ben Laid Amri, Samir Tahtah and Kamal Ahbar. The nationalities of the men were not released by Spain's interior ministry when it announced the arrests yesterday, but their names suggest north African origin.
The men were arrested because they were thought to have assisted two of the bombers, Moroccans Mohamed Afalah and Mohamed Belhadj, to have fled. Alafah is thought to have gone on to Iraq, where he died in a suicide attack in May 2005. Belhadi and another man who escaped, Algerian Daoud Ouhane, are also thought to have gone to Iraq.
The five men were also said by Spain's interior ministry to have had contact with Ouhane. Forged documents and three computers, as well as receipts for phone calls to Afghanistan, were also seized in the raids. The five men were taken individually in arrests in cities across Spain - Barcelona, Tarragona, Gerona, Cadiz and A Coruna.
Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, the interior minister, said that the arrests had been authorized by Juan del Olmo, the judge who has been processing the evidence on the suspects and authorizing indictments of the 29 who are to stand trial.
One of the five men arrested on Wednesday, Samir Tahtah, was already in prison when he was arrested. He was ordered to jail in 2006, accused of belonging to a Syrian network which recruited suicide bombers to act against US troops in Iraq.
A sixth man, Taha Seghrouchni, was arrested the following day in the northern city of Lleida. Seghrouchi was thought to have assisted in the financing of the bombings by putting money into Daoud Ouhane's bank account and exchanging phone calls with him.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 5, 2007 7:53 AM
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