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Moroccan Islamist group linked to Madrid bombs
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| 17 March 2004 |
By David Ing in Madrid
Spanish investigators believe that at least some of the perpetrators of the Madrid train bombings that killed 200 on 11 March are connected to the group that carried out a number of bombings in Casablanca in 2003.
One of three Moroccans detained has been linked with the group that sent out 13 suicide bombers, killing 43 people in the Moroccan city on 16 May 2003.
Angel Acebes, Minister of Interior at the time of the attacks, acknowledged the investigation would be "long and complex". He added that a series of raids had been carried out on homes and businesses in the Lavapies district of Madrid.
Apart from the arrests, which also included the detention of two Indians, police confiscated various mobile phones, as well as equipment for adapting the phones and falsifying SIM cards, he said. The 10 bombs that exploded on the trains in Madrid were activated by calls to mobile phones left in rucksacks, although police are also checking to see if one of the perpetrators died in the attacks.
The three Moroccans arrested have been named as Jamal Zougam from Tangiers, Mohammed Bekkali and Mohammed Chaoui from Tetouan.
Both Jamal Zougam and Mohammed Cahoui were named in a report drawn up by judge Baltasar Garzon following a round-up of alleged members of an Al-Qaeda cell in Spain in November 2001. Although neither was prosecuted, a search of Zougam's apartment in Madrid uncovered various videotapes featuring among others Abdelaziz Benyaich, who was arrested in June 2003 in the southern Spanish port of Algeciras for his alleged participation in the Casablanca bombings.
Benyaich was one of 16 Moroccans living in Spain whose names were revealed by Robert Pierre (alias Lahy or Abu Abderrahmane), a French citizen accused of being the planner behind the Casablanca bombings. The 16 are said to be members of Al Oussououd Al Khalidine (The Eternal Lions), a cell which forms part of the Salafiya Jihadiya network. A Spanish police spokesman said: "All have connections between themselves and also have strong connections with people from Al-Qaeda in Europe."
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