Madrid terrorists were three different groups

14 April 2004

MADRID – The terrorists who carried out the Madrid massacre were made up of three different groups, Spain’s Interior Minister said Wednesday.

Angel Acebes said the first group carried out the ideological preparation.

The second group of terrorists was made up of those who actually built the bombs and planted them on the four trains in Madrid.

Ten bombs went off during the rush-hour on 11 March, killing 191 and injuring more than 1,500 people.

Speaking at a press conference, Acebes added that the third group were probably made up of career criminals who were involved in drug trafficking.

Drug dealing is widely thought to have financed the terrorist attacks and paid for the stolen explosives which were used.
 
Acebes emphasised the importance of the so-called mastermind of the group, Serhane Ben Abdelmajid, nicknamed The Tunisian, in supervising the ideological preparation for the attacks.

But at the same time, he did not discount the possibility that another terrorist, nicknamed ‘El Emir’, could also have played a significant role.

Acebes comments came after investigators revealed they had pieced together the video found in the wreckage of the Madrid flat where seven terrorists blew themselves up 3 April.

In the video, the fanatics threatened to carry on attacks against the new Socialist administration because the prime minister, Jose Lluis Rodriguez Zapatero, had said he would increase the number of Spanish troops in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the three Moroccans arrested in the Malaga area of Andalusia were being held in custody and there were no plans for them to appear before a judge Wednesday.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

 Subject: Spanish news