Police have identified two Syrian-born Spaniards as the ideological mentors behind last year's Madrid train bombings, a newspaper reported Tuesday. El Pais said a police report handed over in March to the judge investigating the attacks concludes that the two, Moutaz Almallah Dabas and his brother, Mohannad, were directly linked to al-Qaida. Both are in custody.Moutaz Almallah Dabas was arrested in London in March on a Spanish warrant for alleged terrorist offenses linked to the Madrid bombings. His brother was first picked up in Spain shortly after the March 11, 2004, attacks, then released for lack of evidence. He was arrested a second time in Spain, also in March of this year, and charged with belonging to an armed group. The attacks on the Madrid commuter rail network killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500. Islamic extremists claimed responsibility for the bombings on behalf of al-Qaida and in revenge for the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq.
The judge investigating the case, Juan del Olmo, said last year the ideologue behind the attacks was a Tunisian named Serhan Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet. He was among seven suspects who blew themselves up weeks after the attacks in a suburban Madrid apartment as special forces prepared to move in to arrest them. But the police report reportedly given to the judge in March says the Almallah brothers were above Fakhet in the ideological preparation of the attacks. It said that, without them, the March 11 bombings "possibly would not have taken place."
"If al-Qaida gave the order to attack in Spain, set the date and started the process of carrying it out, the Almallah brothers made up the doctrinal base closest to" al-Qaida, the newspaper quoted the report as saying. Del Olmo has jailed 31 people — mostly Moroccan or of Moroccan origin — for the train bombings. About 70 others have been questioned and released but are still considered suspects. A trial is not expected until next year.