The group of alleged Islamist extremists arrested in Barcelona at the weekend were planning suicide attacks on Spanish soil allegedly under orders from Al Qaeda in Pakistan, AFP quoted press reports as saying.
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Citing sources close to the investigation, the daily El Periodico de Catalunya said “the terrorist action averted on Saturday ... was decided several months ago by the central Al Qaeda network in Pakistan. “Those who gave the order are to be found in Pakistan. They were preparing suicide attacks. Those that came here were ready to commit suicide,” it said.
Among the 12 Pakistanis and two Indians arrested during the night of Friday to Saturday, several had made recent trips to Pakistan, according to the paperÂ’s source. The group received an order to carry out an attack in Barcelona from figures high up within the Al Qaeda hierarchy during a meeting at a training camp in Waziristan.
Announcing the arrests on Saturday, Spain’s Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba declared that an imminent attack by “highly organised radical Islamists” had been foiled. “Here we are looking at a well-organised group who were going beyond ideological radicalism to acquiring materials to make explosives and therefore eventually to carry out violent attacks,” he said. “During our searches, we found various materials which could be explosives or be used to make explosives,” he told a press conference in Madrid. Four timing devices as well as computer equipment were recovered.
The intelligence suggested “the possibility that a terrorist action was being prepared on Spanish soil, in Barcelona to be precise,” Rubalcaba said. Police then “detected an organised group suspected of gathering materials used to make explosives,” and decided immediately to swoop, he said. He added that it was “probable” that some of the 14 were innocent.
The terror suspects will appear in a Spanish court this week, a judicial source said on Monday amid press reports that they were planning an Al Qaeda ordered suicide attack. Under Spanish law a terror suspect can be held without being charged for up to five days. Earlier, Spanish police had asked the National Court for more time to question 14 suspected Islamic militants detained on suspicion of planning a terror attack in Barcelona, AP quoted a court spokeswoman as saying on Monday.
A court spokeswoman said police had asked for an extension of 48 hours and that the detainees were not likely to be brought before investigative magistrate Ismael Moreno until Wednesday. The extension is permitted under SpainÂ’s anti-terrorism laws. |