Spain Threatened Over Iraq Troops

A video has been found in the rubble of a Spanish apartment where some suspects in the Madrid train bombings blew themselves up.

The Spanish interior ministry says the video warns Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. The video says if Spain doesn't do so within a week, the country will face new attacks.

Authorities say the tape shows three heavily armed people reading a statement.

It's not clear when the video had been filmed or when the deadline period would begin. It's also not known if any of the three who appeared on the tape were among the suspects who blew themselves up in the apartment.

The March 11 attacks on four commuter trains left 191 people dead and more than 1,800 injured.

The 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.

An al Qaeda-linked group that claimed responsibility for the attacks had earlier 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.

Several suspected terrorists blew themselves up Saturday as special forces prepared to storm their apartment in the suburb of Leganes, south of Madrid.

Explosives and other evidence found in the apartment indicated the suspects planned an imminent follow-up to the March 11 attacks, a court official said.

Police also found a substantial amount of money, including a roll of notes worth $604 on the body of one of the militants.

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.

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.

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.

Seventeen persons are now charged and in jail in the case. 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 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.