Free Republic

An American lawyer has been arrested in connection with the Madrid train bombings. Muslim convert Brandon Mayfield, 37, from Oregon, was taken into custody by the FBI on a material witness warrant, law enforcement sources said. Such warrants are obtained in cases where people are suspected of having direct knowledge about a crime or to allow time for further investigation into the witness. Suspects may be held indefinitely without formal charges. Some 191 people were killed and 2,000 injured when bombs ripped through commuter trains on March 11 in Madrid. The attacks have been linked to al Qaida. Mayfield is...

PORTLAND, Ore. - A native Oregonian was arrested as a material witness in the deadly train bombings in Madrid, Spain, federal authorities said. Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer and former Army officer, was taken into custody Thursday by FBI (news - web sites) agents, who also searched his home in the Portland suburb of Aloha. It was the first known arrest in the United States with connections to the March 11 terrorist attacks, which killed 191 people and injured 2,000 others. Mayfield, 37, was arrested on a material witness warrant and has not been charged with any crime, according to a...

MADRID, Spain (AP) - The fingerprints of the American lawyer arrested in Oregon in the Madrid terror bombing probe were found on a bag containing detonators like those used in the March 11 attack, the Spanish government said Friday. The plastic shopping bag was found inside a stolen van left near the train station from which three of the four bombed trains departed, an Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity. Brandon Mayfield, a 37-year-old lawyer and former U.S. Army officer who converted to Islam, was taken into custody Thursday by FBI agents, who also searched his home in...

MADRID, Spain — The fingerprints of the American attorney arrested as a material witness in the Madrid train bombings were found on a plastic shopping bag that held detonators like the ones used in the deadly March 11 terrorist attacks.

Federal agents on Thursday detained a Washington County lawyer in connection with the deadly March 11 terrorist attack in Madrid -- the first American connection to the worst terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001.Brandon Mayfield, 37, who lives in Aloha and played a minor legal role in the Portland Seven terrorism case, was picked up at his West Slope law office on a material witness hold Thursday morning, said Tom Nelson, Mayfield's attorney. < snip >