Another Moroccan Jailed on Terrorism Charges
By Maria Jesus Prades, The Associated Press
Madrid, Spain (AP) -- Spanish authorities jailed a Moroccan engineering student described as having close ties to the alleged ringleader of the Madrid train bombings and arrested three new suspects Monday, court officials said.
Fouad Almorabit, a 28-year-old electrical engineering student, was jailed on charges of collaborating with a terrorist organization after hours of questioning by Judge Juan del Olmo.
Almorabit admitted he knew suspects in the March 11 train attacks but denied having any role in them, court officials said.
The judge’s decision Monday raises to 18 the number of people charged in the case, six of them with mass murder and the rest with belonging to or collaborating with a terrorist organization. Fourteen of those charged are Moroccan.
Almorabit was first arrested March 24 and then released, but he was arrested twice more for further questioning, the last time being Thursday.
Officials said Almorabit had close ties to Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, who the government says was the leader and coordinator of the attacks and was among seven terror suspects who blew themselves up April 3 as police moved in to arrest them in an apartment south of Madrid.
Up to late last year, Almorabit lived with one of those suspects -- it is not known which one -- and analysis of Almorabit’s telephone records showed that he spoke to suspects in the attacks in the days leading up to the March 11 attacks and on the day of the bombing, officials said.
Almorabit was first arrested March 24 along with his roommate Basel Ghayoun, a Syrian subsequently jailed as a prime suspect.
Court officials also said six or seven people have been arrested since Friday but all but three -- also Moroccan -- have been released. Those three will appear before the judge Thursday, the officials said.
Two were arrested Friday in the town of Parla south of Madrid. They were identified as Hassan Belhadj and Said Aharouch. Officials said Belhadj might be related to one of the seven suspects who blew themselves up April 3.
The third new suspect, identified as Ibrahim Afalah, was arrested Sunday but officials did not say where.
Spanish authorities say the core members of the cell are either behind bars or were among those who killed themselves April 3. At least six more suspects are still being sought.
The government says the focus of its probe is the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, an al-Qaida-linked group that is also related to an organization blamed for last year’s suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, which left 45 people dead including 12 attackers.
In the March 11 Madrid attacks, 10 bombs ripped through four commuter trains during the morning rush hour, killing 191 people and injuring some 1,800 in the country’s worst terrorist attack. Forty-six people remained hospitalized Monday.
Spain remains on alert after a letter and a video from an al-Qaida-linked group warned of more attacks unless Spain withdraws its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.