Bombing suspect linked to al-Qaida
One of the three Moroccans arrested in the Madrid train bombings was a follower of a suspected al-Qaida member jailed in Spain for allegedly helping plan the September 11 attacks in the United States, according to court documents.
It was the latest suggestion that Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist group may have been involved in the bombings.
A September 17, 2003 indictment calls Jamal Zougam, 30, a “follower” of Imad Yarkas, the alleged leader of Spain’s al-Qaida cell who was jailed for allegedly helping plan the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
Yarkas, whose alias is Abu Dahdah, remains in Spanish custody.
The indictment targets Yarkas and 34 others, including bin Laden, for terrorist activities connected to al-Qaida.
The indictment, led by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, showed police had searched Zougam’s home at least once, turning up a video of mujaheddin fighters in Dagestan, Russia, and telephone numbers of three members of the Madrid al-Qaida cell allegedly led by Yarkas.
Zougam is one of three Moroccans and two Indians arrested over the attacks, which killed 200 people and wounded 1,500. Officials said phones were apparently used as detonators on the 10 bombs that tore through four rush-hour trains.
Spain’s El País newspaper, citing the Interior Ministry, reported all three Moroccans have links to Yarkas.
Zougam was one of thousands of Moroccans put under surveillance by authorities after May terrorist bombings in the coastal city of Casablanca that killed 33 people and 12 bombers, a Moroccan official said.
The official said he was suspected of ties to international terror groups. There were no formal accusations against him, and the official did not say to which groups Zougam may be linked.
European intelligence agencies were also working to identify a purported al-Qaida operative who claimed in a videotape that the terror group bombed trains in Madrid to punish Spain’s backing of the US-led war against Iraq.
The tape was discovered in a bin near Madrid’s largest mosque. An Arabic-speaking man called a Madrid TV station to say the tape was there, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.
“You love life and we love death,” said the man on the tape, who wore Arab dress and spoke Arabic with a Moroccan accent.
The man said the taped claim of responsibility for the bombing of four commuter trains came from “the military spokesman for al-Qaida in Europe, Abu Dujan al Afghani”.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said it was too early to say if al-Qaida was responsible.
Moroccan security experts arrived in Spain to help in the investigation. Morocco’s Interior Ministry said the experts were members of a team that has already spent nearly a year working with Spanish officials on the investigation into Casablanca’s terror bombings.
The Casablanca bombings were blamed on Salafia Jihadia, a secretive, radical Islamic group suspected of links to al-Qaida.
The other two Moroccan suspects, Mohamed Bekkali, 31, a mechanic, and Mohamed Chaoui, a worker, 34, have no police record at home, the official said.
The Spanish interior minister, however, said three of the suspects had previous records, and one was under investigation for suspected participation in murder. He earlier had said that one suspect might also have connections with Moroccan extremist groups. He gave no further details.
The interior ministry identified the two Indian suspects as Vinay Kohly and Suresh Kumar.
The five were arrested after a mobile phone and prepaid card were found in an explosives-filled gym bag on one of the bombed trains.
Friends of the Moroccans said the Madrid store where they worked sold mobile phones but they insisted that the men would not have been involved in planning or carrying out the attacks.
