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MADRID One year after the worst terrorist attack in Spanish history, the Spanish police continue to uncover and thwart new plots involving Islamic militants, according to senior Spanish intelligence and law enforcement officials.
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Despite sweeping measures to improve their ability to investigate potential terrorism since the bomb attacks that killed 191 people on March 11, 2004, and one police officer in the aftermath, the officials estimate that there are hundreds of people scattered in cells around the country committed to attacking centers of power in Spain.
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The police have found indications of a cell of Pakistanis they suspect was planning an attack on a high-profile target in Barcelona. The police also found evidence of a cell of North Africans in Madrid that apparently wanted to attack Madrid’s high court, the officials said.
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“We have been lucky that our investigations have managed to abort other plots before acts of terrorism took place,” Juan Fernando L?pez Aguilar, the justice minister, said in an interview. “That means the threats have not disappeared.”
other cell was uncovered last autumn, when the police carried out an operation against a group of Algerian and Moroccan radicals who were believed to be planning an attack on Madrid’s High Court and perhaps other targets.
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Using informers, investigators learned that the plotters had started to try to procure explosives for the operation. There was no concrete information about the exact timing of the attack or the plan for carrying it out, Spanish officials said. But the government was concerned that the attack was imminent, so it decided to close down the cell.
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Investigators brought the information to Judge Baltasar Garz?n, Spain’s highest antiterrorism magistrate, who ordered the arrests of more than 30 people, mostly North Africans, who were suspected of taking part.
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“This particular plot was pretty close,” L?pez Aguilar, the justice minister, said in an interview. “But it didn’t happen.”
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Investigators are trying to piece together whether there are connections between operatives of Al Qaeda in Spain and the Madrid bombings.
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Some of those arrested had been in contact with Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, a Syrian who is believed to be the leader of a Qaeda cell in Spain and who is in Spanish custody in connection with the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, a senior intelligence official said.
iht.com/articles/2005/03/13/news/spain.html
.
.
Despite sweeping measures to improve their ability to investigate potential terrorism since the bomb attacks that killed 191 people on March 11, 2004, and one police officer in the aftermath, the officials estimate that there are hundreds of people scattered in cells around the country committed to attacking centers of power in Spain.
.
The police have found indications of a cell of Pakistanis they suspect was planning an attack on a high-profile target in Barcelona. The police also found evidence of a cell of North Africans in Madrid that apparently wanted to attack Madrid’s high court, the officials said.
.
“We have been lucky that our investigations have managed to abort other plots before acts of terrorism took place,” Juan Fernando L?pez Aguilar, the justice minister, said in an interview. “That means the threats have not disappeared.”
other cell was uncovered last autumn, when the police carried out an operation against a group of Algerian and Moroccan radicals who were believed to be planning an attack on Madrid’s High Court and perhaps other targets.
.
Using informers, investigators learned that the plotters had started to try to procure explosives for the operation. There was no concrete information about the exact timing of the attack or the plan for carrying it out, Spanish officials said. But the government was concerned that the attack was imminent, so it decided to close down the cell.
.
Investigators brought the information to Judge Baltasar Garz?n, Spain’s highest antiterrorism magistrate, who ordered the arrests of more than 30 people, mostly North Africans, who were suspected of taking part.
.
“This particular plot was pretty close,” L?pez Aguilar, the justice minister, said in an interview. “But it didn’t happen.”
.
Investigators are trying to piece together whether there are connections between operatives of Al Qaeda in Spain and the Madrid bombings.
.
Some of those arrested had been in contact with Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, a Syrian who is believed to be the leader of a Qaeda cell in Spain and who is in Spanish custody in connection with the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, a senior intelligence official said.
iht.com/articles/2005/03/13/news/spain.html
.