14 Terror Suspects Arrested In Spain

Officials Say Pakistani And Indian Nationals May Have Planned Attack In Barcelona

(AP)  Spanish police arrested 14 suspected Islamic militants in early morning raids Saturday, and the interior minister said authorities suspect the men were plotting a terrorist attack in Barcelona.

The suspects - 12 Pakistanis and two Indian nationals - were arrested less than two months before national elections in Spain, whose last vote in March 2004 was held in the wake of Europe's worst Islamic-linked terror attack.

There are fears that Islamic militants could try a similar plot to disrupt this year's vote, scheduled for March 9.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba gave no details on what sort of an attack was allegedly being plotted, but said authorities found four timers in some of the suspects' homes.

"When someone has timers at home you have no option but to think violent acts are being planned," he said, adding that more arrests were expected and the country was on high security alert.

Rubalcaba said the arrests - many of which were reportedly in Barcelona's Raval neighborhood - were prompted by information from several unspecified European intelligence agencies. Raval is home to one of Spain's largest concentrations of Pakistani immigrants.

Spain's leading El Pais newspaper noted that the discovery of the alleged plot coincided with a visit to Europe by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who is scheduled to make stops in France, Britain and Switzerland in coming days. Officials in all three countries had been alerted.

However, the paper gave no indication of evidence that Musharraf was the target, and Rubalcaba made no mention of him in his news conference. Musharraf was not scheduled to visit Spain.

Civil Guard officers made the arrests as part of raids planned with the National Intelligence Center, the Spanish equivalent of the CIA, Rubalcaba said. Five homes were searched overnight, he said, and Spanish newspapers reported that a mosque and an unauthorized prayers center had also been targeted.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero confirmed the arrests and said investigations were continuing.

Europe's worst Islamic-linked terror attack took place in Spain on March 11, 2004, when bombs went off in railway carriages during the morning rush hour near Madrid's Atocha station. The attack killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800. Twenty-one people have been convicted of involvement in that attack.

The Madrid train attacks were claimed by Muslim militants who said they had acted on behalf of al Qaeda to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq, but Spain's courts found no evidence that al Qaeda ordered, knew about or financed the attacks.

Three days after the carnage, Spaniards ousted the conservative party of Jose Maria Aznar, a staunch Washington ally who had backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq. His successor, Zapatero, fulfilled an electoral pledge and brought the troops home shortly after taking power.

This year's vote is expected to be close, and observers have said an attack by Islamic militants or the Basque separatist group ETA could influence the results.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, Spanish police have arrested hundreds of Islamic terrorism suspects, many in connection with the Madrid attack.

In recent years police have also focused on cells suspected of recruiting mujahedeen fighters and suicide bombers, or of collecting money to finance al Qaeda-linked groups abroad.

Associated Press Writer Paul Haven contributed to this report.

[prinzowhales]

Terrorist arrests just before an election...at least the Regime didn''t blow up a train station to invoke fear this time...but they''ve still got two months till the elections...

[joyous88]

right! what they have is 14 losers talking fantasy -

just like the USA, they arrest any one they can find,

for thought crimes- we live in a criminal police state

[terrorislam6]

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid,,,

non muslims of the world unite,,, fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside,,,

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist

By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.

More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770

Bless the Beasts and Children

Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

[j-whitman]

speakinup,,, Self serving??? A bit, but totally accurate -------- But who isn''t self serving here ??

[jasonking4]

The spanish elections are only a few weeks away.

The men arrested were NOT active terrorists.

Politics is a dirty game. See above.

[david1737]

speakinup

My statements are fact.

Bush just returned from Saudi Arabia. While their he brokered a deal to sell $20 billion worth of extremely sophisticated weapons (including smart bombs) to the Saudis a country that we know supports/funds terror, add this to the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 were Saudis.

That%u2019s a shame!

Bush calls Pakistan our ally, they breed and harbor Islamic militants. Pakistan is probably harboring Bin laden as we speak.
Since we opened Gitmo, we can hardly complain about their human rights abuses, but they%u2019re so bad we must anyway.

That%u2019s a shame!

Giving India, which borders Pakistan, more nuke technology is just not a good idea. These two countries historically have posed a direct threat to the security of the entire world, rivaled only by the past cold war, between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

That%u2019s a shame!

[david1737]

speakinup

My statements are fact.

Bush just returned from Saudi Arabia. While their he brokered a deal to sell $20 billion worth of extremely sophisticated weapons (including smart bombs) to (the Saudis) a country a country that we know supports/funds terror, add this to the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 were Saudis.

That%u2019s a shame!

Bush calls Pakistan our ally, they breed and harbor Islamic militants. Pakistan is probably harboring Bin laden as we speak.
Since we opened Gitmo, we can hardly complain about their human rights abuses, but they%u2019re so bad we must anyway.

That%u2019s a shame!

Giving India, which borders Pakistan, more nuke technology is just not a good idea. These two countries historically have posed a direct threat to the security of the entire world, rivaled only by the past cold war, between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

That%u2019s a shame!

[on_alert247]

If any country is considered to be an ally of the US then that countries citizens can be killed. From the 1998 Fatwa: "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God, "and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together," and "fight them until there is no more tumult or oppress"ion, and there prevail justice and faith in God."

[j-whitman]

speakinup,,,,, Thanks for your opinion -- Try buying a cup of coffee at Denny''s with it

[toolmangler-2009]

My opinion is you couldn''''t be more wrong on your first two statements, but I have to respect your statement above. I''''ve often wondered why the left hasn''''t been as passionate about the 40,000 who have died from what folks call "accidents", and I prefer to point out as crimes by DRUNK drivers.

Posted by speakinup at 02:40 PM : Jan 19, 2008



The simple fact that no one has successfully poisoned the water supply for a major city ''yet'' does not remove the threat of terrorism. You seem to fail to grasp the truth that terror wears ''no flag'' it can be ''extremist'' anything, Islam, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Bhuddist. It can come as a ''conspiracy of big Brotherism'' or a Communist resurgence, or even some demented politician trying to start WWIII.

[toolmangler-2009]

crimen laesae maiestatis!
Posted by MagicMerlin8 at 01:38 PM : Jan 19, 2008



crimem laesae maiestatis
Crime of high treason



Now you could have done that also. you should have.

[speakinup]

"3.Islamic terrorism is not a statistically significant threat: In contrast, 80,000 Americans die from the flu and car crashes each year ------ more than died from Islamic attacks on our country since its founding. Even on 911, an American was 50,000 times more likely to die from a peanut allergy than from Saudi nationals flying into buildings. Posted by psy_war

My opinion is you couldn''t be more wrong on your first two statements, but I have to respect your statement above. I''ve often wondered why the left hasn''t been as passionate about the 40,000 who have died from what folks call "accidents", and I prefer to point out as crimes by DRUNK drivers.

And these DRUNK drivers continue to live their lives as though almost nothing has happened, in many cases being allowed to continue to drink and drive, after a short sentence - if any at all.

I conclude psy-war that because of your concerns above - you at least have your heart in the right place and are intelligent, if not ill informed of the first two issues.

But that''s JUST my opinion.

BRAVO for a balanced post, psy-war.

[wolf563]

Idothink : If you do think then think about how meny types of timers there are . Yes people have cooking timmers but that is not the type of timmer they found . You should read more than one article on the subject before you make your statements .

[idothink]

If they caught some real bombers, great! However I am getting very tired of journalists that can be so easily hoodwinked. Note the AP quote on CBS news. " ''When someone has timers at home you have no option but to think violent acts are being planned,'' he said," attributed to Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba. Do you have a oven, a VCR, travel alarm wash machine, etc.? Do you DIY on applaiance repairs. This is like the same old fear mongering that Chertoff constantly does. Come on start thinking. I will wager even Rubalcaba has one of these items at home. His quote borders on the absurd and yet AP did not present a view to expose this. Lets talk real evidence. If they had explosive packed in something you got them with hard evidence. I hope their surveillance evidence is a lot better then the "evidence" pictured on a competing news service. Almost everything pictured could easily be found in millions of U.S. and European homes. ("Almost" is used because I could not identify one item).

[speakinup]

david1737 - I find your intrepretation of President Bush''s statement rather self serving.

I''m positive that the President made his statement about the current government of Pakistan, not each and every individual of Pakistan. Just as most folks would believe people in the US are friendly towards the good of our nation.

Your twisting of President Bush''s words makes me wonder if you don''t fit in the category of the previous sentence, or if you just intensly dislike Bush. Probably the latter, but yuor statement was self serving, never the less.

Shame, shame, shame on you.

[david1737]

Good for Spain! Good for the world!

Note:

The suspects were 12 Pakistanis and two Indians.

Bush Admin. claims Pakistan to be our "ally."

Bush Admin. gave India nuke technology.

15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 were Saudis'', and Bush just sold them more weaponry last week.

Shame, Shame, Shame!

[Con Mohrat]

They got a few from South Asia. I wonder how many hundreds are still around from North Africa, many of which still feel Spain is ''Eurabia South'' since Isabella evicted Bo Abdil.
The Atocha incident with 2,000 casualties dumped warmonger, Hose Marie Aznar within a week for having 3000 of his troops as part of the genocide in Iraq. Spaniards can learn. The U.S. hasn''t yet.

[piercetheval]

...IN BARCELONA...OR OKLAHOMA...WHAT DOES IT MATTER...WHAT DOES IT MATTER...[Well I''ve never been to Spain, but they tell me that it''s nice there..]

[hypnotoad72]

Thank God they were caught.