MADRID – A leading suspect linked to the 11 March massacre was charged Thursday with a separate terrorist offence related to the Twin Towers attacks.

Said Berraj, who is wanted under an international arrest warrant in connection with the Madrid bombings, was charged by Judge Baltasar Garzón, who is hunting the al-Qaeda cell based in Spain.

Garzón charged Berraj in his absence with an offence relating to Operation Date, which is the hunt for the al-Qaeda cell responsible which played a part in the 11 September attacks in the United Status.

The judge has charged 35 people, including Osama Bin Laden, in connection with the operation.

The cell was said to have been led by Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, known as “Abu Dahdah”, who is in prison.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of Berraj by Judge Juan del Olmo who is heading the investigation into the 11 March terrorist atrocity.

Security forces believe that Berraj could be the unidentified terrorist who blew himself up with six other Islamic extremists on 3 April in a flat in Leganes, a Madrid suburb.

A police officer was killed and four others injured in the explosion.

Security forces are still trying to trace Berraj’s DNA in Morocco, where he comes from, to try to see if he was the seventh terrorist who died in the blast.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news