SPAIN: FOUR MORE MADRID BOMBING SUSPECTS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED WHILE ANOTHER FIVE APPEAR IN COURT

Record ID: 358615

  • Title: SPAIN: FOUR MORE MADRID BOMBING SUSPECTS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED WHILE ANOTHER FIVE APPEAR IN COURT
  • Date: 23rd March 2004
  • Summary: (W5) MADRID, SPAIN, MARCH 22, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF SPANISH HIGH COURT; SECURITY AROUND COURT (3 SHOTS) 0.18 2. SLV FIVE SUSPECTS ARRESTED OVER THE MARCH 11TH MADRID BOMBIMBS ENTERING COURT IN CARS 0.54 3. SLV COURT; MV POLICEMAN; PEOPLE ENTERING COURT; SPANISH FLAG; LAS HIGH COURT BUILDING (7 SHOTS) 1.35 Initials
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MADRID, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Reuters ID: LVA5SV7CJ7SR8YI6SGABPX54PSQ2
  • Story Text: Spain arrest four more suspects of Madrid bombings
    while another five appear in court.

    Five suspects arrested over the March 11 Madrid
    bombings appear in court on Monday (March 22, 2004) as European
    security officials share intelligence on the
    attack inquiry that is probing links to al Qaeda militants.

    High Court judge Juan del Olmo will question three
    Moroccans, a Spaniard and a fifth suspect whose identity
    has not been disclosed, before either ruling they have a
    case to answer and must be held in custody or ordering
    their release, court sources said.

    Del Olmo last week accused three other Moroccan suspects
    of 190 murders, 1,400 attempted murders and of belonging to
    a terrorist group after a gruelling seven-hour hearing. Two
    Indian suspects were accused of cooperating with a
    terrorist group.

    They denied links to al Qaeda and said they were asleep
    at the time of the commuter train bombings that killed 202
    people.

    Del Olmo is not expected to rule on the remaining five
    suspects until late Monday or Tuesday, court sources said.

    Formal charges against the suspects come later.

    Also on Monday (March 22), court sources Spanish police
    have arrested four more suspects in connection with the
    March 11 commuter train bombings that killed 202 people.

    The sources said three suspects were arrested in the
    multi-racial district of Lavapies in central Madrid while a
    fourth was detained in the Madrid suburb of Getafe. State
    radio said the suspects were all Arabs. The arrests take
    the total number of suspects in custody to 14.

    More 1,800 people were injured in what is believed to
    be the first Islamist strike in the West since the
    September 11, 2001 U.S. attacks.

    The attack has sparked a security shake-up across the
    European Union and put Western capitals on alert.

    Security officials from the EUs five biggest members
    began a two-day meeting in Madrid on Monday to coordinate
    the bomb probe, discuss the threat from militant Islamists
    in Europe and agree how to counter it, EU intelligence
    sources said.

    The meeting is limited to Spain, Britain, Italy,
    Germany and France. Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz
    Cimoszewicz said in Brussels on Monday that restricting the
    guest list to Europes big five was a mistake.


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