SPAIN: Spain arrested 10 people yesterday suspected of providing financial and logistical support for an Algerian Islamic militant group linked to al-Qaeda.
Interior Minister José Antonio Alonso said authorities had no information that the group planned to carry out any attack "in the short- or medium-term" and he called for calm among residents of towns where the 10 were arrested. But his ministry said the group's activities had extended to other European countries as its members had connections with Algerian-born residents in Germany, The Netherlands, Britain, Belgium and Denmark.
The arrests, in raids in southern and southeastern Spain, follow a 10-month investigation by Spanish police, Mr Alonso told a news conference. "The Civil Guard's operation fits within the state's task to prevent terrorist activities, cutting them off at the root," he added. Spanish police were in touch with security forces in other European countries to work together on investigating the Spanish cell and "other networks of international terrorism that could be linked to it", he said.
The detainees are accused of providing financial and logistical support for the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, Algeria's largest outlawed militant movement. They are also accused of raising money through drug-trafficking, faking credit cards and theft from vehicles and property.
An interior ministry spokesman said he could not confirm the nationality of the 10. A judicial source said earlier that they included Algerian and Moroccan citizens. Seven people were arrested in Alicante on the southeast coast, one in nearby Murcia and two in the southern city of Granada. Police also seized documents, computers, drugs and €35,000 in cash, Mr Alonso said.
"With this operation, the infrastructure of this cell in our country has been broken up," the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that the operation was continuing and there could be more arrests.
Spain has arrested 63 people for suspected links to international terrorism this year, the interior ministry said.
Last year police arrested 131 people for suspected terrorist links, about half of them in connection with the Madrid train bombings on March 11th, 2004, which killed 191 people.
Reuters