Report Links 9/11 Attacks, Madrid Bombings
Nov 28, 7:44 PM (ET)
MADRID, Spain (AP) - An unidentified Muslim militant suspected of helping plan
the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States also ordered this year's Madrid train
bombings, a Spanish newspaper said Sunday, asserting the closest link yet
between the two terrorist attacks.
The man is believed to be a lieutenant of Mustafa Setmariam, a fugitive with
dual Syrian and Spanish nationality who is considered a key figure in the March
11 backpack bombings that targeted the Madrid commuter rail network, the
newspaper ABC said, citing information from the FBI.
Last week, the United States announced a $5 million reward for information
leading to Setmariam's arrest, saying he was an al-Qaida operative who ran a
terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
Also known as Abu Musab al-Suri, he trained terrorists in poisons and
chemicals, the State Department said.
The Madrid attack killed 191 people and was claimed in videotapes by militants
saying they acted on behalf of al-Qaida in revenge for Spain's sending troops
to Iraq and Afghanistan. Conservatives who backed the war in Iraq were voted
out of power in elections three days after the attack.
The FBI has told Spanish investigators that a man who attended a July 2001
meeting with the Mohamed Atta, ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, and
suspected coordinator Ramzi Binalshibh in Tarragona, Spain, also came to Madrid
last December and activated a cell that staged the train bombings, ABC said.
The identity of the third person at the meeting with Atta and Binalshibh is not
known but has been narrowed to three candidates, the paper said.
The new information on that meeting came from US interrogations of Binalshibh,
who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, the newspaper said.
Interior Ministry officials were not available to comment on the report.
Spain's leading anti-terrorism judge, Baltasar Garzon, said in an indictment
handed down in September 2003 against 35 al-Qaida suspects - including Osama
bin Laden and Setmariam - that the Tarragona meeting was used to decide
last-minute details of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
including the exact date.
Investigators in Spain and the United States have long said Spain was a key
staging ground for Sept. 11, along with Germany.
In previously established links between the Sept. 11 and Madrid attacks,
Spanish officials say Jamal Zougam, one of the 16 people jailed in the
investigation of the latter, was a follower of Imad Yarkas, the suspected
leader of a Spain-based al-Qaida cell that allegedly provided logistic support
and financing to Sept. 11 plotters.
Another alleged follower of Yarkas was Serhane Ben Abdelmajid, a Tunisian
described as the Madrid cell's ideologue. He was among seven suspects who blew
themselves up on April 3 as police tried to arrest them.
Yarkas has been in jail since November 2001 and was among the 35 suspects
indicted by Garzon. The judge later indicted five more, and those in Spanish
custody are expected to go on trial next year.
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| User: "Michael Johnathan McDonald" |
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| Title: Re: Report Links 9/11 Attacks, Madrid Bombings |
29 Nov 2004 05:05:24 PM |
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(TonyZ2001) wrote in message news:<20041129093924.06305.00000907@mb-m27.aol.com>...
Report Links 9/11 Attacks, Madrid Bombings
Nov 28, 7:44 PM (ET)
If the Spanish government were smart enough – I don't think that they
aren't – I really think there is a battle inside going on, they would
know that Usama had stated that Spain must return to the Muslim rule.
But, the 'pull out your soldiers and we will not harm you' ploy is
laughable; because, once they have the chance Spain is toast. In
Islamic religion, the person who shows the guts and glory wins their
respect. When Spain pulled out of Iraq, the Al' Crappies laughed and
called them weak imbeciles behind their backs.
I see See tw is spazzing out as usual ;)
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