Spain arrests Syrian in train bomb probe
Fri Mar 18, 2005 10:28 PM GMT
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MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police investigating the Madrid train
bombings have arrested a Syrian man on suspicion of recruiting and
indoctrinating jihadists.
Mohannad Almallah Dabas and his brother Moutaz are accused of training
young Islamist militants at their home in Madrid and sending them
overseas, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Spain's ruling Socialists said they had expelled the detained man from
the party. He joined a Madrid area branch of the Socialist Party 10
months ago but had been expelled in view of the serious accusations
against him, the party said in a statement.
Investigators say Mohannad Almallah Dabas cooperated with another
Syrian, Basel Ghalyoun, who is in prison accused of participating in
the train bombings.
A total of 191 people were killed in the March 11, 2004, attacks
linked to al Qaeda in which 10 bombs exploded on four packed morning
commuter trains three days before a general election.
Police say the Almallah Dabas brothers associated with a man
identified by investigators as a leader of the March 11 bombers:
Serhane ben Abdelmajid Farkhet, also known as "The Tunisian".
Farkhet was one of seven suspects who died on April 3 when they blew
themselves up rather than surrender to police who cornered them in an
apartment in a Madrid suburb.
The Almallah Dabas brothers also maintained contacts with Rabei Osman
Sayed Ahmed, known as "Mohamed the Egyptian", arrested in Italy last
year, the ministry said. Investigators say Ahmed boasted that the
train bombings were his idea, although Ahmed has denied making such a
claim.
Friday's arrest brought to 76 the number of people detained in
connection with the Madrid bombings, of whom 43 remain in jail or
under court supervision.
The attacks helped to sweep Spain's Socialist party to power amid
voter anger at the previous conservative government's support for the
U.S.-led war in Iraq and its attempts to blame the bombings on Basque
separatists ETA despite evidence of Islamist involvement.
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