Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 19, 2004
Spain's Al-Qaeda detainee admits to know Madrid bombing suspect
Spain's leading Al-Qaeda detainee,Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, admitted Thursday to know one of the Moroccans arrested in connection with the March 11 Madrid bombings,Local media reported Thursday.
Spain's leading Al-Qaeda detainee,Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, admitted Thursday to know one of the Moroccans arrested in connection with the March 11 Madrid bombings,Local media reported Thursday.
Abu Dahdah claimed to know Jamal Zougam, one of the three Moroccans arrested in connection with Madrid's deadly bombings, because he had been a client to the fruit shop and the telephone-box business owned by Zougam in Madrid's Lavapies neighborhood, the report quoted Spanish judicial sources as saying.
Abu Dahdah also said he had never established relations with Zougam nor was familiar with his ideology.
Zougam is believed by the authorities in Rabat to have links toAl-Qaeda and the Casablanca attacks in May 2003 that left 45 dead including 12 suicide bombers.
Spanish police arrested five more suspects on Thursday, bringing to 10 the number of suspects in custody that were chargedwith involvement in the Madrid attacks, which killed 202 people and wounded over 1,400.
The Spanish judges are probing for possible ties between Madridtrain bombings and the Casablanca attacks in 2003.
Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, has been detained since Nov. 2001 and is charged with leading an Al-Qaeda cell in Spain that hosted a "summit" in July 2001 to plan the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.