A Tunisian man wanted as a ringleader in the Madrid train bombings began agitating for jihad in Madrid in mid-2003 if not earlier, according to arrest warrants released today.
The Tunisian, Serhane ben Abdelmajid Farkhet, 35, was identified as the "personal leader and coordinator" of the group implicated in the March 11th attack, which killed 191 people three days before Spain's general election, the warrants said.
The other five named in arrest warrants are Moroccan, including one man traced to an al Qaeda meeting in Istanbul in 2000.
Two others are brothers of the only woman jailed in the case, and a fourth rented the house used to prepare the bombs, the warrants said.
Fakhet "not only was the energising force for the awareness campaign for the jihad ... but also with specific intent (since the middle of 2003 at least) for the preparation of a violent act in Spain, specifically in the Madrid area," the warrants said.
Police are holding 19 people in connection with the bombings, including 14 who have been formally accused. The judge in charge of the case, Juan del Olmo, issued international arrest warrants for a further six suspects on yesterday.