The Spanish judge investigating the Madrid train bombings formally accused two new suspects today.
Police are now holding 18 people, most of them Moroccans,
and the government says they, and those who blew themselves up
in Saturday's raid on a Madrid apartment, account for most of
those involved in the March 11th bombings, which killed 191
people.
The latest suspects sent back to prison are both Moroccans
accused of belonging to or collaborating with a terrorist group,
a court official said. Both told Judge Juan del Olmo they had
friendships or business ties to several of the other suspects.
Another Moroccan suspect was arrested in Madrid yesterday,
an Interior Ministry spokesman said, without
explaining the role he was suspected of playing in the bombings.
Despite the rapid pace at which core suspects have been
captured or killed, security has been stepped up around Spain
since the thwarted attempt to bomb a high-speed rail line on
Friday and since the suicide bombing on Saturday.
Sources close to the investigation have said the suicide
bombers may have been planning a series of Holy Week attacks
before getting cornered based on two or three prepared bombs and
loose explosives found in the apartment.
Forensic teams had found money and documents mentioning
possible targets amid the debris at the blown up apartment in
the Madrid suburb of Leganes, state radio reported. Police have said up to three people may have fled the apartment before the suicide blast.
Still unaccounted for are two brothers suspected of
involvement and a third man suspected of links to al-Qaeda.
Arrest warrants have been issued for them and a court official
said prosecutors had asked for several more.
Police are investigating a letter sent to a newspaper,
purportedly from al-Qaeda, which threatened more attacks unless
Madrid withdrew its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.