Spanish police believe a top Al Qaeda operative in Europe put two key suspects in the Madrid bombings in contact with one another. Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet of Tunisia, the alleged coordinator of the attacks, is believed to have met with Al Qaeda operative Amer Azizi in Turkey in late 2002 or early 2003 to ask for fighters for an attack in Madrid, the daily El Mundo said. Azizi, a Moroccan who remains at large, was indicted on terrorism charges last September by Judge Baltasar Garzon as part of his probe into an Al Qaeda cell he accused of helping prepare the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Azizi apparently told Fakhet he could not supply men but urged him to contact Moroccan compatriot Jamal Zougam in Madrid. Fakhet was one of up to seven suspected terrorists who blew themselves up April 3 when their apartment south of Madrid was about to be stormed by police.
| It used to be four. Now it's seven. Guess they found more lips... |
Azizi is one of at least a half dozen suspects for whom police are searching in relation to the train massacre. Seventeen people, 13 of them Moroccan, have been charged in the case. |