Madrid bombings show no al-Qaida Ties (AP) Updated: 2006-03-10 10:37
A two-year probe into the Madrid train bombings concludes the Islamic
terrorists who carried out the blasts were homegrown radicals acting on their
own rather than at the behest of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, two senior
intelligence officials said.
Rescue workers
cover up bodies by a bomb damaged passenger train following a number of
explosions on trains in Madrid, Spain, March 11, 2004. A two-year probe
into the Madrid train bombings has turned up no evidence the islamic
terrorists that carried out the attacks recieved logistical or financial
support from Osama bin Laden's al-qaida network.
[AP] | Spain still remains home to a web of
radical Algerian, Moroccan and Syrian groups bent on carrying out attacks 锟斤拷 and
aiding the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq 锟斤拷 a Spanish intelligence chief
and a Western official intimately involved in counterterrorism measures in Spain
told The Associated Press.
The intelligence chief said there were no phone calls between the Madrid
bombers and al-Qaida and no money transfers. The Western official said the
plotters had links to other Islamic radicals in Western Europe, but the plan was
hatched and organized in Spain. "This was not an al-Qaida operation," he said.
"It was homegrown."
Both men spoke on condition of anonymity, the first because Spanish security
officials are not allowed to discuss details of an ongoing investigation and the
second due to the sensitive nature of his job.
The attack has been frequently described as al-Qaida-linked since a man who
identified himself as Abu Dujan al-Afghani and said he was al-Qaida's "European
military spokesman," claimed responsibility in a video released two days later.
Ahead of Saturday's anniversary of the March 11, 2004 blasts 锟斤拷 which killed
191 people and wounded 1,500 锟斤拷 victims' groups have been clamoring for more
progress in the investigation.
Gabriel Moris, whose 30-year-old son died in the bombings, said: "These past
two years have done nothing to clear up what happened. My questions are simple:
Who ordered the massacre? Who killed my son and the other innocent victims?"
The intelligence official said authorities know more than they have revealed,
including the suspected ideological and operational masterminds of the attack.
"We haven't explained it well enough to the victims because we can't reveal
judicial secrets," he said, adding the investigation is nearly complete.
Authorities believe the ideological mastermind was Serhan Ben Abdelmajid
Fakhet, a Tunisian who blew himself up along with six other suspects when police
surrounded their apartment three weeks after the bombings, and that Jamal
Ahmidan, a Moroccan who also died that day, was the "military planner."
Law enforcement had focused on another man, Allekema Lamari, as the head of
the group. But the official said evidence, particularly from wiretapped phone
conversations, indicated it was Ahmidan who gave the military orders. Lamari
also died in the apartment blast in a Madrid suburb as authorities closed in.
Some 116 people have been arrested in the bombings, and 24 remain jailed. At
least three others 锟斤拷 Said Berraj, Mohammed Belhadj and Daoud Ouhane 锟斤拷 are sought
by authorities, though all are believed to have fled Spain long ago. The
intelligence official said the top planners are all either dead or in jail.
While the plotters of the Madrid attack were likely motivated by bin Laden's
October 2003 call for attacks on European countries that supported the U.S.-led
invasion of Iraq, there is no evidence they were in contact with the al-Qaida
leader's inner circle, the intelligence official said.
Most of the plotters were Moroccan and Syrian immigrants, many with criminal
records in Spain for drug trafficking and other crimes. They paid for explosives
used in the attack with hashish.
That is a far cry from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States 锟斤拷
allegedly planned by al-Qaida leaders like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi
Binalshibh and funded directly by the terror network through international wire
transfers and Islamic banking schemes.
Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and
Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland, said the model
used in Madrid, and likely for the July 7 London transport bombings fits in well
with al-Qaida's business plan.
"Al-Qaida is not and never was a topdown organization that did everything in
terms of attacks around the world. They have a key role in ideological terms ...
but they rely on local cells and those that are inspired to carry out these
attacks," he said.
After the fact, bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are happy to claim
responsibility because they recognize the carnage as inspired by their movement.
Still, Wilkinson cautioned that just because no direct link has been
established between the Madrid plotters and al-Qaida, it doesn't mean none
exists. "If security officials knew everything that was going on, we would have
caught Osama bin Laden by now," he said.
Both the Spanish intelligence chief and the Western official said there is
reason for concern despite the lack of a direct al-Qaida connection.
"There were a lot of moving parts to the March 11 plot, but we were still not
able to detect it, and that is scary because a similar thing could happen
again," said the Western counterterrorism official. "Since March 11, there have
been plans for other significant attacks that the Spanish have disrupted."
Those plans include a scheme in late 2004 to bomb buildings in Barcelona,
including the 1992 Olympic village and office towers known as the city's World
Trade Center complex. Police also thwarted a 2004 plot by Moroccan and Algerian
militants to level Madrid's National Court 锟斤拷 a hub for anti-terror
investigations 锟斤拷 with a 1,100-pound truck bomb.
And agents specializing in Islamic terrorism have arrested dozens of suspects
锟斤拷 all allegedly working to recruit potential suicide bombers for the Iraq
insurgency.
At least two Spanish citizens 锟斤拷 including March 11 suspect Mohammed Afalah 锟斤拷
are believed to have blown themselves up in Iraq, and an investigation by the
respected El Pais daily revealed some 80 others have traveled to the country in
recent months intending to do the same.
The intelligence official said the March 11 attacks were a wakeup call, and
authorities are much better prepared now to stop Islamic terrorism. But he said
the bombings show how easy it is for those bent on terrorism to carry out
attacks.
He said authorities believe the Madrid bombers learned how to construct the
bombs 锟斤拷 all connected to Mitsubishi Trium T110 mobile phones 锟斤拷 from Internet
sites linked to radical Islamic groups. The devices were similar to ones used in
the 2002 Bali bombing, he said, evidence that militants in both countries got
information on the same radical Web sites.
Spanish authorities were monitoring several of the bombers in the months
before the attack 锟斤拷 and actually stopped Ahmidan's car on a highway in late
February, unaware he was leading a caravan of other terrorists transporting the
explosives used in the blasts.
The intelligence official said authorities had never imagined a group of
petty drug traffickers were capable of planning such a massive attack.
"Had we been told a day before (the bombing) that this is what was going on,
we would have dismissed it," he said.
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