Posted on 11/13/2001 11:41:11 AM PST by Pericles
Tuesday November 13 2:46 PM ET
Spain Arrests 11 with Suspected Bin Laden Links
By Daniel Trotta
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police arrested 11 men Tuesday believed to have links with the international network of Osama bin Laden, Spain's second swoop since September 11 on cells of suspected Islamic militants.
Police in Madrid detained 10 men considered to be ``the leading members of the Spanish infrastructure of the mujahideen movement...which forms part of the network of Osama bin Laden,'' Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters.
An 11th suspect was later arrested in the southern city of Granada, and police confiscated a variety of false documents, videos and firearms.
Mujahideen is the name given to Afghanistan's anti-Soviet resistance fighters of the 1980s, among them bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant and prime suspect behind the hijack attacks on New York and Washington.
The interior ministry said the suspects have either trained in ``terrorist camps'' in Afghanistan or had seen combat in Afghanistan, Bosnia ``or other fronts in the Islamic struggle.''
Spain also arrested a suspected bin Laden lieutenant in June, and one of the alleged ringleaders of the September 11 hijackings traveled extensively in Spain in July.
The leader of the group arrested Tuesday was a Spanish citizen of Syrian origin -- identified as Imad Eddin Barakat Yarbas, alias Abu Dahdah -- and was considered bin Laden's representative in Spain, the ministry said in a press release.
The rest were mostly Spanish citizens who originated from Muslim countries, mainly Syria.
``Abu Dahdah maintained numerous contacts with renowned Islamic extremists in Europe,'' the ministry said, adding that he also had contact with an Algerian-based cell that was broken up in Spain on September 26.
``They were...recruiting people to attend training camps and later commit terrorist acts and provide false documents to support people close to these groups,'' minister Rajoy said from Granada, site of a Spanish-Italian summit.
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo, citing police sources, reported on its Website that one of those arrested met bin Laden at least twice in Afghanistan to receive instructions.
TWO-YEAR INVESTIGATION
The arrests followed a two-year investigation headed by High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon, best known for his bid to try Chilean ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet in Spain on human rights charges.
In late September Spain arrested six Algerians accused of belonging to Algerian-based Daawa wal Jihad (Appeal and Struggle Salafist Group), which Rajoy said was part of bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Mohammed Atta, an Egyptian believed to have crashed one of the jetliners into the World Trade Center, ran up 2,000 km (1,240 miles) on his rental car during two weeks in July when he is suspected to have met with other extremists in Spain.
Spain Arrests Nine with Suspected Bin Laden Links
Tuesday November 13 7:19 AM ET
GRANADA, Spain (Reuters) - Spanish authorities arrested nine people Tuesday suspected of having links to the international network of Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect behind the September 11 attack in the United States.
The leader of the group was a Spaniard of Syrian origin and the rest were Tunisian and Algerian, Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters in Granada in southern Spain.
``The activities they were carrying out...were recruiting people to attend training camps and later commit terrorist acts and provide false documents to support people close to these groups,'' Rajoy said, identifying them as leaders of the ''mujahideen in Spain.''
The arrests followed a two-year investigation headed by High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon, who is best known for his attempts to try former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in Spain on human rights charges.
Spain has previously arrested suspected Islamic militants with ties to bin Laden, the Saudi-born millionaire believed to be in hiding in Afghanistan.
Two weeks after the hijack attacks on New York and Washington, Spain arrested six Algerians accused of being members of the Algerian-based Daawa wal Jihad (Appeal and Struggle Salafist Group), believed to have ties to bin Laden's al Quaeda network.
Those suspects, some of whom may have trained in Afghan camps, were accused of falsifying documents for other militants and carrying out credit-card fraud to finance rebel activity in Algeria and to buy equipment for rebels in Chechnya.
In June, Spanish police arrested a suspected senior member of bin Laden's group, Mohammed Bensakhria, in the southeastern city of Alicante. He was extradited to France in July.
Mohammed Atta, an Egyptian believed to have piloted one of the jetliners into the World Trade Center, is known to have traveled extensively in Spain in July.
You mean like in Kosovo?
Those suspects, some of whom may have trained in Afghan camps, were accused of falsifying documents for other militants and carrying out credit-card fraud to finance rebel activity in Algeria and to buy equipment for rebels in Chechnya.
Oh! They meant Chechnya.
This "Spanish" cell provides a clear link to Bosnian Muslims and the 9/11 cell.
Mohammed Atta, an Egyptian believed to have piloted one of the jetliners into the World Trade Center, is known to have traveled extensively in Spain in July.
Exactly. C'mon Thaci, crawl out from under that terrorist rock of yours....is Madeline in there with you??
They never dominated the northern area, but everything else was under their control, just about the time Mohammed rode to power under the banner of Islam.
All this while Bill Clinton was getting hummers under the desk by an intern!
Before going to Granada I spoke about Islam in Spain with the Islamic scholar Bernard Lewis, of Princeton... "I have met Muslims in Spain who felt that southern Spain was old Muslim territory," Lewis said. "They see it as their duty to recover it—by conversion, not by conquest."
The forces of muslim world domination on the move. Europe trembles.
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