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| Europe |
| Spanish al-Qaeda cell linked to Indonesia |
| 2004-03-18 |
| JAKARTA : The Spanish al-Qaeda cell, which is a suspect in the Madrid bombings, had links to militant training camps in Indonesia , an expert said on Thursday. "There is a clear link between Spanish al-Qaeda and training camps in Poso," said Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group (ICG) of political analysts. Likely to be Jemaah Islamiyah, the local al-Q affiliate. An ICG report last month said the head of Spain ’s al-Qaeda cell, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, visited the Poso district in Indonesia ’s Central Sulawesi province in May 2001. He reportedly agreed to arrange funding for an international training camp there. The report said Yarkas was accompanied by an Indonesian called Parlindungan Siregar, who had ties to al-Qaeda in Spain and is still at large. Indonesia would have been a safe place for them back then, this article doesn’t say if they had any more connection than providing funding though. Afghanistan was still the major training area at this point in time, prior to 9-11. Yarkas has since been jailed in Spain for suspected involvement in the September 11 attacks on the US . One of his alleged followers, Moroccan Jamal Zougam, 30, was arrested last Saturday in connection with the Madrid station bombings which killed 201 people. |
| Posted by:Steve |