Spanish police have arrested 17 suspected militant Islamists thought to have recruited and trained sympathisers to join the insurgency in Iraq. The suspects were arrested during pre-dawn raids in and around Madrid, Barcelona and the Basque town of Tolosa, Spanish media reported. They included a suspect thought to be linked to a suicide bomber who killed 18 Italian soldiers and nine Iraqis. The bomber had attacked an Italian military base in Nasiriya in 2003.