Undated picture of Djamel Mirabet, one of the suspected Islamic terorists who was arrested by Spanish Police in Campanillas, Malaga suburbs.(AFP)
Posted on 10/19/2004 10:46:30 AM PDT by TexKat
MADRID (AFP) - Spanish police arrested eight suspected Islamic extremists believed to be plotting a bomb attack on the National Court, Spain's highest criminal court, Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said.
Alonso told reporters that seven men were arrested overnight while another suspect was detained in the northern city of Pamplona on Tuesday morning as police swooped on several cities.
The cell "was envisaging carrying out an attack against the National Court or against another judicial institution," Alonso told journalists.
An interior ministry statement said following the overnight arrests that seven "radical and violent" Moroccans and Algerians living in Spain had been detained, most of whom having previously served jail terms.
Four were arrested in the southern city of Almeria and the other three in the southern town of Malaga, the eastern city of Valencia and the capital, Madrid.
They were believed to have "been in contact with individuals in other European countries, in Australia and the United States," the ministry statement said.
The ministry added police found no weapons, explosives or other equipment in the raids, described as part of a "preventive mission of the state in the fight against terrorism" with no direct links with the ongoing inquiry into the March 11 bombings in Madrid, in which 191 people were killed.
Spanish rolling news broadcaster CNN+ said that the eight men were suspected of planning an attack using a truck loaded with 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of explosives in the Madrid district where the National Court and Supreme Court are located.
El Pais newspaper said police using telephone taps had overheard mention of preparations for a "large explosive attack", probably against the National Court.
The raids were ordered by Spain's top anti-terrorism prosecutor, Baltasar Garzon.
Neighbours of two detainees arrested in Almeria, described the pair, one of whom Spanish media named as Mourad Yala, alias Abu Anas, as "formal people who were no trouble."
Also Tuesday, Spanish television showed graphic new footage of the moment three explosions rocked Atocha station in central Madrid on March 11.
The footage, shown by CNN+, showed a huge pall of thick smoke with a wall of bright orange flames engulfing two platforms.
The few seconds of film, captured by station security cameras and pored over for months by police, showed hundreds of commuters about to take one of the ill-fated trains targeted by ten bomb blasts at three stations.
Undated picture of Djamel Mirabet, one of the suspected Islamic terorists who was arrested by Spanish Police in Campanillas, Malaga suburbs.(AFP)
Spain don't call us and we will definately not call you.
I'm surprised Zapatero doesn't give them ice cream and cake.
Hey, wait a minute!
I thought that by withdrawing the Spanish
military complement in Iraq that the Terrorists
were supposed to leave Spain alone!? Was
this only a dream? You mean it didn't work!!?
Wow! I guess there is a bit of re-thinking to do, ay?
Welcome ta da party, pal!
MV
They were believed to have "been in contact with individuals in other European countries, in Australia and the United States," the ministry statement said.
Torture them, get the intel, then kill them publicly.
sleeper cells ping
B-b-b-b-b-b-but....I thought cutting and running forged a 'peace' with the Moos? /s
TFTP TK
Timeline ping.
"Torture them, get the intel, then kill them publicly."
Wait, you forgot one part, bury them wrapped in pig skin.
I hope this is a lesson to appeasers and would-be appeasers everywhere, there is no dealing with Islamofacists, just killing them, that's the only way to make them stop killing us.
I must add GOOD JOB to the Spanish police.
...wrapped in pig skin, under a public latrine, upside down, ass-end facing Mecca.
I guess caving into the terrorists after the train attack and withdrawing their troops and electing a more "moderate" leader really did the trick.
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