The Spanish Interior Ministry has distributed the photographs of five men wanted in new international arrest warrants in connection with the Madrid train bombings. The ministry also issued the photograph of a sixth man, Said Berraj, who was listed in a warrant issued last month, but who remains at large. "The Ministry of the Interior distributes photographs of six other individuals who have international arrest warrants for alleged participation or collaboration in the March 11 attacks in Madrid," the ministry said in a statement, received by CNN, along with the photographs. The five new suspects were identified as Mohamed Afalah, 28; Mohamed Belhadj, 24; Abdelmajid Bouchar, 21; Mohamed Bouharrat, 24; and Hicham Ahmidan, 24.
Spain's largest-circulation newspaper, El Pais, reported last Friday that Belhadj had rented an apartment to suspected terrorists in the southern Madrid suburb of Leganes. The family name Ahmidan already appears twice on the list of 18 suspects already charged in the case -- the Moroccan brothers Hamid and Mustafa Ahmidan. It was not immediately clear late Monday if Hicham Ahmidan is related to them.
| My guess is it's the usual family affair... |
The only man who appeared in both sets of international arrest warrant photographs -- those issued last month and the new set on Monday -- is Berraj, a 31-year-old Moroccan. Berraj is allegedly linked to al Qaeda through an October 2000 meeting in Istanbul that was attended by three other al Qaeda suspects, according to a copy of his arrest warrant viewed April 1 by CNN. The warrant said Berraj is also linked to the alleged "coordinator" of the Madrid train attacks, a Tunisian man, Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, whom authorities have identified as one of the seven suspected terrorists who died in the Leganes apartment explosion. Berraj also was linked to a Syrian man, Basel Ghalyoun, who is among those charged in the train bombing case with 190 counts of murder and belonging to a terrorist group. |