Cops: 2nd Madrid Attack Planned
The suspected terrorists who died in last weekend's suicide blast had planned another major attack in Madrid, possibly during this week's Easter celebrations, a court official said Wednesday.
Police also fear Saturday's explosion that may have killed seven suspects and the subsequent arrests of other suspects could stir another cell of militants to mount a "jihad," or holy war, in Spain, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A Spanish judge, meanwhile, jailed two more suspects on terrorism charges, a court official said.
Seventeen persons are now charged and in jail in the case.
The two questioned Wednesday by National Court Judge Juan del Olmo were Moroccans Rachid Adli and Abdelila el-Fouad. Both were jailed on terrorism charges.
El-Fouad was arrested last Friday at the border in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on Morocco's northern coast. Adli was detained Tuesday in Madrid.
Of the 17 in custody, six have been charged with mass murder, the rest with collaborating or belonging to a terrorist group. Thirteen of the total are Moroccan.
The March 11 attacks on four commuter trains left 191 people dead and more than 1,800 injured.
In the suicide blast Saturday, the court official said, explosives and other evidence found in the apartment indicated the suspects planned an imminent follow-up to the March 11 attacks.
Police also found a substantial amount of money, including a roll of notes worth $604 on the body of one of the militants.
Spain, a largely Roman Catholic country, marks Easter week with national celebrations that culminate on Sunday, Easter Day.
Fearing more attacks, the government ordered unprecedented security measures this week, when millions of Spaniards pack trains, planes and highways for holiday travel.
A bomb was found and dismantled Friday on a high-speed line between Madrid and Seville.
An al Qaeda-linked group that claimed responsibility for the March 11 attacks sent a statement to the Spanish newspaper ABC saying the bomb was a warning of the havoc the group could unleash.
The group said it would turn Spain into "an inferno" unless Madrid withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Spain has 1,300 soldiers in Iraq and 125 in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Olga Sanchez asked Del Olmo, the investigating magistrate, to issue four more international arrest warrants. No information was available on those suspects.
Del Olmo last week issued a similar warrant for six suspects.
The government previously said three of those six were among at least five suspected terrorists who blew themselves up Saturday as special forces prepared to storm their apartment in the suburb of Leganes, south of Madrid. The court official said Wednesday that police now believe that recovered body parts belonged to seven people.
Police also are looking for three people who may have fled the apartment before the blast and are hiding out near Madrid, the newspaper El Pais reported. They may include one or more of the people sought in del Olmo's warrants, the paper stated.
Authorities believe ringleader Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, of Tunisia, and Moroccan Jamal Ahmidan — described as his right-hand man and the person who rented the house where the bombs used March 11 allegedly were assembled — were among those killed Saturday.
The investigation into the Madrid attacks has focused on the al Qaeda-linked Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group. It is also connected to a group suspected in suicide bombings last year in Casablanca, Morocco, that killed 33 people.
The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which has links to al Qaeda, is related to a group suspected in last year's Casablanca bombings, which killed 45 people including 12 suicide bombers.
In France, where a shadowy group has threatened attacks on the rail system and at least one large bomb has been discovered on the tracks, the Interior Ministry says 13 people detained after a raid this weekend are suspected of belonging to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which is alleged to have al Qaeda links. The group has been mentioned in the investigation into last month's train bombings in Spain.
A respected French private investigator says Spanish police believe that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian terror suspect with links to the Ansar group and al Qaeda, coordinated the Madrid attacks.
The United States has blamed al-Zarqawi for orchestrating many recent terrorist attacks in Iraq, but militants themselves claim he is dead.
The railway bombings came three days before Spain's general elections. Many saw the bombings as a reprisal for the Spanish government's support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The opposition Socialist party, which had opposed the war along with most Spaniards, won the elections, in part due to anger over the attacks.
In one of its first statements, the party said it planned to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30 unless the United Nations took control of the situation there. The party later said it intended doubling its troop numbers in Afghanistan to 250 to show it was committed to fighting terrorism.