Five men arrested in connection with Madrid's suspected al-Qaeda bombings appeared in court yesterday as Spain hunts for links between the men and Islamic militants abroad.
Three Moroccans and two Indians faced a closed-door preliminary hearing at what the government says is a "decisive phase" in the inquiry into Western Europe's worst guerrilla attack, which killed 201 and injured more than 1,750 a week ago.
PHOTO: AP
The blasts helped provoke a major election upset, ushering in a Socialist leader who has vowed to stand by a pledge to pull Spain's troops from Iraq despite US calls to stay the course.
Incoming prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero branded a "fiasco" the occupation of Iraq which was backed by outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar despite huge public opposition.
His critics say Spain's withdrawal would hand victory to the attackers and a new letter signed by a group that has claimed responsibility for the bombs will give critics fresh ammunition.
"Praise be to God who gave us this victory in the conquest of Madrid ... where one of the pillars of the axis of Crusader evil was destroyed," said a statement signed by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which claims links to al-Qaeda.
The letter, sent to a pan-Arab newspaper on Wednesday, said the group was calling a Europe-wide truce until it knew Zapatero's intentions over Iraq, where a suspected al-Qaeda car bomb killed 27 people in Baghdad on Wednesday.
Zapatero, who opposed the conflict, was trailing in the polls before the Madrid blasts on four commuter trains, which Aznar instantly blamed on Basque separatists ETA.
Outrage over Aznar's handling of the attack and a revival of public opposition to the Iraq war swept Zapatero to power. He takes office next month.
Spain is still reeling from the blasts and emotions ran high yesterday as commuters make the same early train journeys that were hit exactly one week ago and a tribute is held for victims at Madrid's busy Atocha station.
Police are hunting some 20 Moroccans, who may also be linked to last May's Casablanca attack in which 45 people died.
The five arrested suspects -- including a Moroccan named as Jamal Zougam -- are expected to return to jail after their court appearance yesterday. An Algerian man picked up in the northern Basque city of San Sebastian is also being held.
Britain's Metropolitan Police and intelligence agencies are probing possible links between the suspects and extremist Islamists living in London, El Mundo newspaper said yesterday, citing police sources.
The Metropolitan Police had no comment.
Separately, Imad Eddim Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah -- described as al-Qaeda's leader in Spain and charged with a role in the September 11 U.S. attacks -- was due to appear in a different court yesterday, El Pais reported.
The newspaper, quoting state agency EFE, said Dahdah had condemned the Madrid attacks in a letter to EFE on Monday.
Along with the rest of Europe, Spain has stepped up security at airports and at strategic installations in the face of what the Aznar's government called "an ongoing terrorist threat."
Zougam, who has a criminal record, ran a store that sold mobile phones in Madrid's multi-racial Lavapies district. Police believe mobile phones were used to detonate the bombs.
The official death toll remains 201 but a forensic scientist told El Mundo that figure was questionable. She said the number of people reported missing exceeded the number of dead as many bodies had been blown to pieces.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS