JTIC Briefing: Barcelona's 'suicide bombers'

On 19 January, Spanish Minister of the Interior Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba announced that the Guardia Civil had arrested 12 Pakistanis and two Indians in Barcelona on the previous night. Materials for making explosive devices were recovered during raids on several apartments, a mosque and a prayer hall, although there was some confusion over whether explosives had been found.

Ministry of Interior sources were reported saying Pakistani intelligence had provided information leading to the arrests, as well as French intelligence alerting the Spanish that two suspected Pakistani radicals had crossed the border from France to Spain. Media reports speculated that an attack was being planned to coincide with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf?s European tour.

Some of the detained suspects had allegedly travelled to Pakistan for jihadist training in recent weeks and that Al-Qaeda leaders ordered suicide attacks from a camp in the Waziristan area on the Afghan border.

While the discovery of timing devices seems incompatible with a conspiracy to launch suicide bombings, Judge Ismael Moreno, who reviewed the case on 23 January, said three of the detainees were suspected of planning suicide attacks against public transport targets between 18 and 20 January. The judge ordered 10 of the men to be held pending further investigation and released two, the remaining two having already been released without charge. Suspects can be held in Spain for up to four years without being put on trial. The judge said that his decision was based in part on the testimony of a protected witness.

Judge Moreno linked the men to Tablighi Jamaat, which he accused of promoting the "indiscriminate" use of violence for political ends. Tablighi Jamaat is an avowedly apolitical proselytising movement that opposes violence. Some jihadists are known to have been former members or to have used the movement as cover for their activities.

The latest arrests in Barcelona prompted concern that mainland European countries could face a growing threat from within their Pakistani communities similar to the one faced by the UK. However, there seems to be a slightly different dynamic at work in the UK and Barcelona cases.

This latest case suggests that Al-Qaeda is pro-actively trying to establish a presence in certain European countries, rather than waiting for local grassroots radicals to make contact or strike independently. 377 of 1,490 words