Posted on 04/12/2007 8:41:02 AM PDT by DogBarkTree
Madrid (dpa) - The emergence of a new al-Qaeda-linked organization in Northern Africa is alarming Spain, which is concerned about Islamists' calls for the reconquest of the country they regard as a lost part of the Muslim world.
"We will not be in peace until we set our foot again in our beloved al-Andalus," al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said on claiming responsibility for an attack which killed at least 24 people in Algiers on Wednesday.
Al-Andalus is the Moorish name for Spain, parts of which were ruled by Muslims for about eight centuries until the last Moorish bastion, Granada, succumbed to the Christian Reconquest in 1492.
The terrorists will undoubtedly attempt to extend their offensive from Northern Africa to European soil, anti-terrorism judge Baltasar Garzon warned, cautioning that Spain was at a "very high risk" of suffering an Islamist attack.
The reference to al-Andalus was not the first by al-Qaeda, which has also vowed to put an end to the Spanish "occupation" of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the Moroccan coast.
Such announcements worry the security services in Spain, where 29 mainly Moroccan suspects are on trial for the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 and injured about 1,800 people.
The bombings were mainly a reaction to the war alliance of Spain's former conservative government with the United States in Iraq, but some of the terrorists are also known to have dreamed of reconquering al-Andalus.
The bloodbath in Algiers could launch a new string of attacks in Northern Africa and Europe, including Spain, terrorism expert Fernando Reinares warned.
Al-Qaeda is extending its activities in Northern Africa, where the Algiers bombings were preceded by the suicides of three Moroccan Islamists who blew themselves up to avoid being captured by police on Tuesday.
The Algerian-based al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), intends to federate North African Islamist cells under a common umbrella.
Some of the people who could attack Spain may already be in the country, where nearly 80 per cent of prison inmates jailed on charges related to international terrorism have come from Northern Africa over the past five years.
Islamist radicals proselytize at an estimated 10 per cent of Spain's hundreds of unofficial mosques, which operate in garages, basements and the like.
Spain has become an important base for the recruitment of suicide bombers who are sent to Iraq, according to press reports. Some of the fighters are believed to be trained in new al-Qaeda camps in Sahel countries such as Mali, Niger or Mauritania.
The Madrid train bombings appear to have been organized by a home- grown Islamist cell with the backing of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM).
Ceuta and Melilla, which have sizeable Muslim populations, could well be the next targets, judge Garzon warned.
LOL ... and they are building a tunnel under the Med to connect Spain with Africa. What could possibly go wrong? :)
Wouldn’t it technically be “Re-reconquest?”
Just a little thank-you from al-Qaeda for their pullout from Iraq. Silly Socialists, foreign policy is for grown-ups!
Remember that Hitler said all he wanted was a little part of Czechoslovakia.
Here's a question for the postmodernist handwringers: is Kuffar cravenness a root cause of Muslim violence?
Oh, what a pity.
Does anyone actually think this will distract the government from its promotion of homosexuality and Marxist economics?
The half-dozen Spanish who are actually alarmed are welcome to come to Charlotte, NC. Especially if they play the guitar.
All I want is Peace, Peace, Peace!!!
A little "peace" of Poland
A little "peace" of France
A little "peace" of Hungary
And Austria per chance.
To hell with Europe
“It was the Moops!” - George Costanza
Spain isn’t what it used to be before 1588. They didn’t even keep it going a whole century.
Call the Crusades!!!
The emergence of a new al-Qaeda-linked organization in Northern Africa is alarming Spain, which is concerned about Islamists’ calls for the reconquest of the country they regard as a lost part of the Muslim world.
^^^
Gee, of course, no one could have seen this coming, right? Spain, wake up; crush them now before it’s too late.
My grandfather immigrated to the US from more or less Valencia, Spain (legally, may I add....) before the depression. He always carried a bitterness to what he referred to as “the Moors”.
He wouldn’t be the least bit surprised by their new intentions.
We would love to have reparations paid for the 700 years they kept my ancestors in slavery, huh? LOL
The PAIN in SPAIN comes mainly from the SEINE.........
Some folks have to learn the hard way. It’s a prime example of what we’ve been saying. You can’t appease these people.
Paging Charles Martel...please answer the white courtesy phone.
Sometimes you get tired of being right and having no one listening to you.
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