| Series Title | The Economist |
|---|---|
| Series Details | No.8370, 10.4.04 |
| Publication Date | 10/04/2004 |
| Content Type | Journal | Series | Blog, News |
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Date: 10/04/04 The hunt for terrorists in Spain and France “THE inner circle of people who committed the terrorist acts are either behind bars or dead.” Thus the Spanish interior minister, ngel Acebes, the day after up to six Islamist terrorists suspected of carrying out the train bombings in Madrid on March 11th had blown themselves up after being cornered by police in a flat in the Madrid suburb of Leganes on April 3rd. Yet Mr Acebes's words did little to reassure Spaniards. Their mood was of nervous expectation, after Mr Acebes conceded that as many as three suspected terrorists might have escaped, possibly with explosives, before the police had managed to cordon off the area. Security has been ramped up everywhere. Police patrolled the Madrid metro for the first time, and security at airports, nuclear plants and in Seville, where pilgrims are gathering for Easter processions, has tightened. Last week the government said it would use the army to guard the railways, after explosives were found on the Madrid-Seville high-speed track. A total of 16 suspects are now in custody; 15 have been charged, 11 of them Moroccans. The terrorists were tracked to the flat in Leganes thanks to their use of pre-paid mobile-phone cards from the batch that had been used to detonate the Madrid train bombs. But the suspects refused to give themselves up and, as a unit of special police broke in, one man inside detonated a huge bomb that blasted masonry and body parts across the street. One policeman was killed. Police found 200 detonators and 10kg (22lb) of explosives in the rubble. The body of one suspect was found in the block's empty swimming-pool, wearing an explosive belt of the type used by Palestinian suicide-bombers. Four corpses from the blast have so far been identified. One was Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, known as “the Tunisian” and considered by the investigating magistrate to be the “mastermind and co-ordinator” of the Madrid attacks. Another was Jamal Ahmidan, a Moroccan nicknamed “el Chino” or “Mowgli”, the suspected leader of the bombers and one of six men for whom arrest warrants were issued the previous week. A third, Abdennabi Kounjaa, was on that list; the fourth, Asri Rifaat Anouar, a Moroccan, was not. Three fresh suspects were later named. Two days after the Leganes blast, 13 suspected members of the same terrorist group that Spain says carried out the Madrid bombings were arrested in France. They are suspected of involvement in the bombings in Casablanca last May that killed 33 people (plus 12 suicide-bombers). They were not directly involved in the Madrid bombings, said France's interior ministry. But they belonged to the same outfit, the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), thought to be behind them. The climate of fear was increased by a letter faxed to a Spanish newspaper, ABC, purportedly from al-Qaeda, which threatened more attacks that would “make blood flow like rivers” in Spain. The letter, signed in the name of “Ansar al-Qaeda” by Abu Dujana al Afgani, the name used in a videotape claiming responsibility for the train bombings, said that Spain should withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan or face “hellish” consequences. In fact, the Socialist prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodrguez Zapatero, who is due to take office later this month, has promised to honour his pre-election pledge of withdrawing the troops in Iraq unless the UN takes charge by June 30th. To show his determination to fight terrorism, however, he has promised to double the number of Spanish troops (from 125) in Afghanistan. But Mr Zapatero still has work to do to persuade Spain's allies (and enemies) not to misconstrue the withdrawal as a victory for terrorism. Meanwhile, Spanish troops came under attack at the Al-Andalus base near Najaf, in Iraq, the day after the Leganes blast. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://www.economist.com |
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| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs, Security and Defence |
| Countries / Regions | Spain |
