MADRID, April 1: Spanish police on Friday arrested 13 people with suspected of links to Islamic extremist movements and those who carried out the Madrid train bombings last year, the interior ministry announced. The ministry said four of those arrested had close ties to Youssef Belhadj, the man believed to be the Al Qaeda extremist network’s spokesman in Europe who was extradited on Friday from Belgium to Spain on suspicion of involvement in the March 2004 attacks. The ministry added that six of those detained in the operation involving around 100 police officers were Moroccans, four Syrians, one an Egyptian, another a Palestinian and one an Algerian. After announcing 12 afternoon arrests police said they had also arrested a 13th man, Syrian national Mohamad Bassem Saka—AFP

Opinion

Editorial

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