MADRID, April 16: Spanish police arrested three new suspects in connection with the March 11 Madrid train bombings including the first Egyptian and the first Saudi detained in the case, a court official said on Friday.

The three men, who also include a Moroccan, were arrested on Thursday in Madrid and were being questioned by police, the official said. The arrests mean the number of people being held in connection with the suspected Al Qaeda attacks, which killed 191 people and wounded 1,900 three days before Spain's general elections, currently stands at 21.

It was believed to be the first Al Qaeda attack in the West since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Most of the core suspects to date in the Madrid probe have been Moroccan, although authorities say one Tunisian and one Syrian also played central roles.

Earlier on Friday, the judge leading the investigation released six Moroccan suspects for lack of evidence. All knew other suspects implicated in the case but the six were found not to have played a role in the March 11 attacks. One of the men freed was a labourer who, like thousands of illegal immigrants each year, reached Spain by boat from Morocco. -Reuters