Spanish police are stepping up the hunt for remaining members of a terror cell wanted for the Madrid train attacks. The group's alleged ringleader, Serhane ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, died with four associates when their Madrid flat was destroyed by an explosion on Saturday. Spain's interior minister said several suspects may have escaped the scene.
| Or they weren't home when the cops arrived. |
Meanwhile, police are examining a fax sent to a newspaper threatening more bloodshed if Spain does not withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
| Ah, added Afghanistan to the demands. |
The fax, handwritten in Arabic, was sent by a group calling itself Abu Nayaf al-Afgani.
| According to another report, ABC said the letter was handwritten in Arabic and signed "Abu Dujana Al Afgani, Ansar Group, al-Qaida in Europe." |
The group claimed responsibility for the 11 March attacks, which killed 191 people, and for Friday's foiled bomb attack on the high-speed train link between Madrid and Seville. The group said it was cancelling a truce designed to give Spain time to remove its forces, adding "if these demands are not met we will declare war on you and turn your country into a hell where blood will flow in rivers".
| Cancelled the truce when you got caught planting a bomb? How very Paleostinian of you. |
Spain's incoming Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has promised to withdraw 1,300 Iraq-based troops by 30 June unless the United Nations takes control.
| Gonna cut and run from Afghanistan as well, Jose? |
ABC newspaper says investigators believe Abu Nayaf al-Afgani is linked to the alleged terrorist cell in Madrid led by Fakhet. Interior Minister Angel Acebes said rucksacks filled with explosives found in the wreckage of the Madrid flat proved Fakhet's cell had been poised to strike again.
| Yup, even after Jose promised to pull the troops from Iraq. I know I'm shocked, oh wait, that was just gas. |
The mayor of the suburb of Leganes - where Saturday's blast occurred - has called on locals to take part in a peace march on Monday evening.
| Yeah, a peace march, that'll do it. |
Fakhet, alias The Tunisian, was named last week in international arrest warrants connected with the attacks. Mr Acebes, who is part of the outgoing Spanish government, has said that another of the dead suspects, Moroccan Abdennabi Kounjaa, was also among six men named in the arrest warrants. A third man - Asri Rifaat Anouar - was not on the list, and a fourth suspect, wearing a belt of explosives, has not been identified.
"Manuel, does this lip look like anybody on the Most Wanted list?"
"Uhhh... Doesn't ring a bell."
"How 'bout this forehead?" |
Spanish newspapers reported that Moroccan Jamal Ahmidan, who was on the list, was among the dead. Ahmidan, known as El Chino or Mowgli, was believed to have led the gang which placed 13 rucksacks packed with explosives on the trains on 11 March. That leaves three suspects from the list still at large: Moroccan brothers Mohammed and Rachid Oulad Akcha and Moroccan Said Berraj. Spain has already provisionally charged 15 suspects over the Madrid train attacks. "The core of the group that carried out the attacks is either arrested or dead in yesterday's collective suicide, including the head of the operative commando," Mr Acebes told a news conference. In Leganes, police have recovered 200 detonators of the kind used in the Madrid attacks, Mr Acebes said. They also removed 10kg (22 pounds) of dynamite from the flat, he added. "They were going to keep on attacking because some of the explosives were prepared, packed and connected to detonators," Mr Acebes said. Before Saturday's explosion, the suspects reportedly spotted the police as they prepared to enter the flat and opened fire from the first floor window. Neighbours said a group of North Africans had moved into the apartment about a month ago. They were rarely seen and the blinds were always closed, the neighbours said. |