Spain Foils Al Qaeda Attack
MADRID (Reuters) - Islamic radicals may have been planning an attack in Barcelona, Spain’s Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said, after police found explosive materials and arrested those accused of involvement early on Saturday.
Rubalcaba told a news conference civil guard police found bomb-making materials during raids on five addresses and arrested 12 Pakistanis and two Indians after receiving information from its own and other European intelligence agencies in recent days.
Rubalcaba said Saturday’s raids were distinct from a number of operations against Islamic militants in recent years which were largely against groups that sought to finance radical groups or recruit members to fight.
“Here we are looking at something different: a well-organized group who were going beyond ideological radicalism to acquiring materials to make explosives and therefore eventually to carry out violent attacks,” he said.
He said a range of bomb-making materials had been found including four timers. Computers were also seized in the raid which took place at 00.30 a.m.(6:30 p.m. EDT.)
Spain’s Interior Ministry regards Islamic militants, rather than armed Basque separatists ETA, as Spain’s greatest security threat and has significantly beefed up surveillance of mosques and employed more Arabic translators in the last four years.
That followed Europe’s deadliest Islamist attack in March 2004 in which four Madrid trains were bombed, killing 191 commuters and injured a further 1,800.
In September 2004, 11 Pakistanis were arrested in Barcelona, accused of planning attacks in the port city. All were cleared, although three were jailed last year after raising money destined for Muslim militants while two others were found guilty of forging documents.
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Pakis r worthless. just send them home so when they blow people up
January 19th, 2008 at 6:23 amit’s other worthless Pakis!
Glad to see that the Spanish has not had to deal with terrorist problems since they caved into there demands and pulled out of Iraq.
Definately worth trusting the Religion of Peace.
January 19th, 2008 at 9:15 amDecember 2003 — A document published months before national elections reveals al Qaeda planned to separate Spain from its allies by carrying out terror attacks.
A December posting on an Internet message board used by al Qaeda and its sympathizers spells out a plan to topple the pro-U.S. government.
“We think the Spanish government will not stand more than two blows, or three at the most, before it will be forced to withdraw (from Iraq) because of the public pressure on it,” the al Qaeda document says.
“If Spain’s forces remain after these blows, the victory of the Socialist Party will be almost guaranteed — and the withdrawal of Spanish forces will be on its campaign manifesto.”
March 11, 2004 — Ten bombs go off virtually simultaneously in trains carrying commuters into Madrid. 190 people died in the attacks, with approximately 2,000 people wounded.
March 14, 2004 — Spaniards capitulate to al qaeda, elect a socialist government led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Zapatero has pledged to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.
March 18,2004 — Abu Hafs al-Masri (al qaeda) said it was calling a truce in Spain to give the socialist government that was elected Sunday, three days after the train attacks, time to carry out its pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq.
The group appeared to boast it had the power to change governments.
“We change and destroy countries,” the statement said. “We even influence the international economy, and this is God’s blessing to us.”
April 4, 2004 — Spanish authorities uncovered an al-Qaeda plot to blow up a high-speed train packed with Easter pilgrims. The bomb found on Friday was planted 56 kilometres south of Madrid on the line to Seville.
April 27, 2004 — Spain completed the withdrawal of its peacekeeping troops from Iraq, newly-elected Socialist Prime Minister Zapatero said Tuesday.
“No Spanish member of the Plus Ultra II brigade remains in Iraq,” Zapatero told Parliament in a debate on his decision to withdraw the 1,300 troops.
January 18, 2008 — 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.
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.
Deja-vu all over again. Will Spaniards get a clue?
January 19th, 2008 at 9:17 amLooks like Spanish cowardice has not gone so well!
January 19th, 2008 at 12:38 pm