Two Algerian men were to appear before a French anti-terrorist judge Friday on suspicion of belonging to an underground Islamist network with links to Chechnya, judicial officials said. The two were being questioned at the headquarters of the domestic intelligence service, the Territorial Surveillance Directorate (DST). The wife of one of the men who was also in detention has been released, the officials said. One of the two men was arrested in the Paris region on Monday, and is suspected of having contacts with Islamists in Spain where he made frequent journeys. The other man was already in custody suspected of trafficking false identity papers.
Counterintelligence agents have arrested two Algerians suspected of ties to a dismantled network accused of planning a chemical attack, judicial officials said. One of the two was described as an important member of the cell who made frequent trips to Spain. Several suspected members of the French-Chechnya network were arrested in Spain in early 2003, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity. Three of them had trained with Chechen rebels and met ``high-level al-Qaida operatives'' in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, near its border with Russia, the Interior Ministry said at the time. |