suicide vessels filled with the deadly explosive C-4
Hm. They really ought to use non-deadly explosives...
Bin Laden associate arrested in Spain
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish officials say they have arrested the leader of a cell connected with alleged international terrorist Osama bin Laden.
Mohammed Bensakhria, 34, an Algerian, was apprehended around midday on Friday as he left a telephone calling center in Alicante in southeast Spain, the Spanish Interior Ministry said in a prepared release.
The release called Bensakhria "the Islamic terrorist most wanted in recent months by Western intelligence services."
FBI officials in Washington confirmed Bensakhria has some affiliation with bin Laden but said he is not among the Saudi exile's top lieutenants.
And State Department officials told CNN that they have no information connecting Bensakhria with bin Laden.
Bensakhria was arrested on a French warrant that had been issued after he escaped German police who had been poised to arrest him along with other members of his "commando cell," Meliani, in December in Frankfurt, the Spanish ministry said.
It said police captured weapons and explosives the group had planned to use in France.
The release said members of Meliani had been trained in Afghanistan, where bin Laden's militant al Qaeda organization is alleged to be headquartered.
The group "planned to commit terrorist attacks in France, among them an attack against the cathedral in Strasbourg and another against a market," the Interior Ministry said.
According to the release, Meliani was linked to Islamic activists in Britain and to a group broken up by police in Milan and Varesse, Italy, in April.
"The Meliani group is comprised of various Algerians and was within the structure of Al Qaeda," the release said.
Spanish officials said Bensakhria was masquerading as a poor immigrant and had used two aliases, Mohamed Ben Aissa and the name of the terrorist cell, Meliani.
Bensakhria was jailed in Alicante, and will be transported soon to Madrid for a court appearance and expected proceedings for extradition to France, Spanish officials said.
FBI officials in Washington said Bensakhria is not among those indicted in the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa, actions allegedly ordered by bin Laden as part of a conspiracy to attack Americans.
CNN's Al Goodman , Peter Humi and Kelli Arena contributed to this report
Suspected Bin Laden associate to be extradited
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spain's National Court has approved the extradition to France of a suspected Islamic guerrilla who Spanish authorities say is an aide to the exiled Saudi militant Osama bin Laden.
The suspect, Algerian national Mohamed Bensakhria, 34, was detained last Friday in the southeastern Spanish city of Alicante.
France seeks his arrest on various terrorism-related activities, and Madrid court officials said the extradition could occur this week.
National Court Judge Ismael Moreno, in the writ ordering the extradition, said that Bensakhria had agreed to it.
The French warrant seeks Bensakhria for alleged involvement in plots against various targets in France, which Spanish officials have described as the European Parliament building in Strasbourg and also the cathedral in Strasbourg.
A French police spokeswoman at the Ministry of Interior confirms Paris did issue an arrest warrant for Mohammed Bensakhria but would not confirm the motive. Authorities said: "... he is a man who is wanted in many countries."
Spain's interior ministry said that evidence of these planned attacks was found last December in Germany, when police there partially dismantled an alleged Islamic commando group. Bensakhria escaped arrest at that time.
He has reportedly lived since then in Strasbourg and most recently in Alicante, where he passed himself off as a poor North African immigrant seeking work.
Al-Qaida Cell in Spain Charged with Aiding September 11 Attacks
Spanish authorities Sunday charged eight suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network with involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Investigative judge Baltasar Garzon said the men "formed part of an extremist Islamic group of a terrorist nature, integrated in the support and development structure of the al-Qaida organization's criminal activities."
The suspects were charged with membership in a terrorist organization, along with document falsification, robbery, and weapons possession. Garzon accused the group of being "directly involved with the preparation and carrying out of the attacks perpetrated by the suicide pilots on September 11."
Phone intercepts led to arrests The accused were among 11 people arrested Tuesday during raids in Madrid and Granada. Police seized computer equipment, counterfeit documents, and several .22-calibre rifles. Also found were videos of Islamic guerrilla activities and a large amount of money.
Garzon said the charges against the suspects were based on telephone conversations intercepted by police before the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon. In one such conversation, recorded on August 26, an al-Qaida activist named "Shakur" told the cell leader in Spain, "in our lessons, we have entered the field of aviation and we have cut the bird's throat."
This cell leader was identified as Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah. An Imam, or spiritual leader, of Syrian origin, Abu Dahdah is believed to be al-Qaida's top representative in Spain. His name appeared in a diary confiscated during the arrest of an alleged bin Laden agent in Hamburg.
The other detainees were named as Luis Jose Galan Gonzalez, also known as Yusuf Galan, Jasem Mahbule, Bassan Dalati Satut, Osama Darra, Mohammed Neetl Acaid, Said Chedadi, and Mohammed Zahir Asade. The remaining three were released on bail, but advised that they were still under investigation. They were named as Mohammed Ghaleb Kalaje, Ahmad Raghad Mardini, and Mohammed Arabi Shehimi.
Judge Garzon said the group recruited people for terrorist training, and provided cover for Islamic militants in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. In addition, he said the group collected money, mainly through stolen credit cards and robberies, for cells based in Hamburg, Germany, where some of the hijackers lived for several years.
One of the jailed men, Osama Darra, ran an electronics store in Spain, used in laundering money for al-Qaida. In the house of another, Bassan Dalati Satut, alias Abu Abdo, police found a diary containing a bank account number belonging to Mustapha Setmarian Nasar, who authorities said ran training camps in Afghanistan.
Most of the detained men have Spanish citizenship, although all but one were originally from Muslim countries. The lone native Spaniard in the group, Luis Jose Galan Gonzalez, whose alias is Yusuf Galan, was trained at a camp run by bin Laden in Indonesia in July. At his Madrid home, police seized weapons, ammunition and forged identity documents. Galan was also said to have connections to Spain's radical pro-Basque independence party Herri Batasuna, linked to the armed separatist terrorist group ETA.
Cell leader connected to Mohammed Atta
Spanish police say Abu Dahdah's role was to recruit young Islamic activists for training in camps in Afghanistan and other countries, and to collect money for the movement. The Spanish network offered logistical support, lodgings and false papers to Islamic activists traveling through Spain and other countries where Abu Dahdah had numerous contacts, particularly Britain, Belgium and Germany. Among Abu Dahdah's contacts were Mohammed Atta, one of the pilots involved in the suicide attacks in the U.S., and Mohammed Atef, bin Laden's military chief, who is believed to have planned the attacks.
Spanish authorities had been monitoring Abu Dahdah for several years. He was found to have traveled throughout Europe, Indonesia, and Malaysia -- despite the fact that he had no visible means of support. He is also believed to have made at least two trips to Afghanistan, where he met with Anwar Adnan Mohamed Salah and Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, who ran training camps for al-Qaida. Spanish authorities said that Salah had formerly been in charge of recruiting Islamic fighters in Spain.
A statement released by the Spanish Interior Ministry said that Abu Dahdah had been in contact with a Muslim cleric named Omar Mahmud Othman, who also uses the name Abu Qutada, and runs a London mosque.
Abu Dahdah also knew a Tunisian-born Belgian citizen named Tarek Maroufi, who is wanted by Italian authorities, and Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian-born German citizen whom the United States has accused of funneling money for bin Laden's al-Qaida network. According to the Sunday edition of the daily El Pais, Dahdah met with bin Laden on two occasions.
Cell may have been active since 1994 Tuesday's arrests were the result of a two-year investigation and were ordered by Garzon, who is presiding over the case. Most of the detainees were former Islamic combatants who had fought in Afghanistan or Bosnia, or trained in camps in Afghanistan and elsewhere, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said earlier in the week.
The arrests follow the Sept. 26 detention of six Algerians on charges of belonging to the armed Salafist Group for Call and Combat. The Salafist Group is on the U.S. State Department's list of organizations linked to Osama bin Ladin.
Judge Garzon claimed that apart from logistical assistance to other European al-Qaida cells, the Spanish group had been used as a base camp for Islamic fighters operating in Bosnia, Chechnya, and Afghanistan. The cell is believed to have been formed between 1994-95.
Earlier this week, the head of France's DST counterintelligence agency said that a number of "neo-Afghans," or Algerians who trained in Afghan terrorist camps, had resettled in Europe. Jean-Jacques Pascal said that the DST had issued a warning as far back as 1998, warning that these "sleeper" cells were waiting for orders to attack.
So far, a number of al-Qaida attacks by Algerian cells have been foiled in Europe, among them an attack during Christmas 2000 in Strasbourg, home of the European Parliament, and a more recent plot to bomb the American Embassy in Paris.
French police rounded up six Algerian suspects over the weekend, one of whom, Abdelkader Tcharek, is still in custody. Tcharek reportedly met with Mohammed Atta earlier this year in Spain. He is also suspected of providing logistical support to Mohamed Bensakhria, a bin Laden deputy arrested in Spain in June and extradited to France. Spanish authorities said that Bensakhria was also tied to the six Algerians arrested in September in Spain and linked to the group charged yesterday in Madrid.
16 arrested in Spain terror raids
Suspects planning attacks in Europe, officials say
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Sixteen suspected Islamic terrorists arrested Friday in Spain were "preparing for attacks with explosive and chemical material" in Europe, the Spanish prime minister said.
"The police have arrested 16 activists, dismantling an important network linked to al Qaeda and the Algerian Salafist group," Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said during a nationally televised news conference.
"They had links to terrorists recently arrested in France and Britain, and they were preparing attacks with explosive and chemical material," he said. The British group was arrested earlier this month after authorities allegedly found traces of the deadly poison ricin in a London apartment.
American intelligence officials told The New York Times that British authorities believe they were plotting to poison food at a British military base with the toxin.
The Times reported one of the suspects worked at a food preparation company and had contacts with at least one base.
A Spanish government statement said the 16, mainly Algerians, were preparing to send communications gear to Chechnya and Algeria and had been trying to obtain a private broadcasting hookup that could extend 3,000 kilometers (1,860 miles).
Interior Minister Angel Acebes said the suspects were preparing for an attack in Europe. He said four suspected Islamic terrorists detained last month in France had "intense contact" with those arrested Friday in Spain.
Acebes said 35 suspected Islamic terrorists have been arrested in Spain since the September 11 attacks.
Police on Friday found chemical material that included "hydrocarbons and synthetic material." The material is being analyzed by police, he said.
Authorities also seized electronic gear that could be used in attacks, such as remote control devices that could set off bombs.
"The suspects provided information and infrastructure to other Islamic terrorist groups, and they had explosives, used chemical products and had connections to other terrorist cells in the United Kingdom and France," the government statement said.
The arrests began at 3:30 a.m. when police swooped down on 12 homes in Barcelona and nearby towns in northeastern Spain.
The 16 suspects operated in two groups, one based in Barcelona and one in the town of Banyoles in neighboring Girona province, near the French border, the government statement said.
The operation resulted from cooperation between Spanish, British and French police.
Most of the people previously arrested were thought to be members of al Qaeda, and some are in jail on suspicion of having a role in the September 11 attacks.
But at least six of the previous detentions involved suspected members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which formed in 1998 as a splinter of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). The GIA is considered to be the most hard-line faction of those attacking the Algerian government.
Police arrested an Algerian man December 26 in northern Spain on suspicion of links to the Algerian GIA.
The two leaders of the group were identified as Mohamed Tahraqui, a member of the Algerian Salafist group, who was arrested in Barcelona; and Bard Eddin Ferdji, arrested in the Girona provincial town of Olot.
Police identified the others arrested in Barcelona province as Hadj Benseguier, Abdelkader Lofti, Larbi Belkebir and Othmane Chihane.
In Girona province, those arrested were Youb Saoudi, Larbi ben Ahmed Allag, Ali Kaouka, Smail Boudjelthia, El Amin el Ghzaou, Mohamed Benhamou and Mohamed Nebber. Three others were not immediately known.
A Spanish official told CNN the suspects were initially held in eastern Spain, but Spanish news reports said later that at least some had been transferred to Madrid.
They will appear later in Madrid before a judge at the National Court, which handles terrorism cases.
Four Islamic terrorist suspects arrested last month in France -- identified as Merouane Benahmed, Mourredine Merabet, Menad Benchellali and Ahmed Belhout -- had previously been in Spain and had maintained contact with the suspects arrested on Friday, the government statement said.
It said Benahmed was an expert in chemistry and explosives and was linked to a terrorist cell arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, in December 2000 that had plotted to attack the Strasbourg Cathedral.
The Frankfurt cell included Mohamed Bensakhria, a suspect arrested in Alicante, Spain, in June 2001.
Spanish authorities have previously told CNN that Spain has been a major logistics base for Islamic terrorists. So-called sleeper cells of al Qaeda and the Salafists, trying to blend in with the everyday population, have quietly raised money, provided housing and fake documents to al Qaeda terrorists and recruited people for the cause.
Mohamed Atta, an Egyptian who is thought to have piloted the first plane to strike the World Trade Center towers on September 11, visited Spain twice in 2001. Police say the reason was to meet other terrorists.