Source: LUBP
In raids conducted earlier today, Spanish authorities arrested eight suspected members of an al Qaeda network who are allegedly involved in training, funding, and facilitating travel for jihadist fighters to Syria. The network is based in the Spanish territory of Ceuta and in the city of Fnideq in neighboring Morocco.
Authorities have not yet disclosed the names or nationalities of those arrested, who are all Spanish citizens, the BBC reported. The network has apparently funneled “dozens” of fighters to Syria, where some have taken part in suicide attacks and others have joined training camps. The network recruited fighters from various parts of Spain as well as Morocco and Ceuta, which has a population of 80,000, half of whom are Muslim.
Other jihadist groups are still preparing to travel to Syria, according to Spain’s Foreign Ministry, which added that the investigation is still underway. Although separate investigations of al Qaeda networks were begun in 2009 and 2011 by the National Guard and the Civil Police, the two agencies began collaborating this year. A press conference on the arrests is planned for tomorrow.
Spain is among a number of European countries from which an estimated 700 fighters have traveled to join the rebels in the Syrian conflict. According to the Spanish news agency Efe, three Spanish jihadists were killed last year in separate battles in Syria, the BBC noted.
Al Qaeda’s leader in Spain recently released
Al Qaeda has been active in Spain for at least two decades. In the 1990s, al Qaeda’s cell in Spain was headed by a Syrian named Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, a.k.a. Abu Dahdah, who was later found to have had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, although the full extent of his involvement was never determined. Another member of his cell, Ghasoub al Abrash Ghalyoun, had traveled to the US in 1997 and made a video of various landmarks, including the World Trade Center, which was thought to have been forwarded to al Qaeda’s leadership in Afghanistan.
Categories: Europe, European Union, Spain