The Spanish police arrested 20 people on Januarr 10 in connection with a recruiting network that sent Islamic terrorists to join the insurgency in Iraq. One of the arrested terrorists was an Algerian suspected of killing 19 Italians and 9 Iraqis in a suicide bombing in 2003. Others included 15 Moroccans, 3 Spinards and a turk.



In the most daring terrorist incident in Spain Islamist terrorists had exploded ten bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 and injuring 1500 in March 2004.Soon after the attacks seven suspects, mainly Moroccans, blew themselves up, killing a police officer whose grave was later defiled. Spain’s Basque terrorist group is known as ETA.



The suspects are the third group that the Spanish have arrested in less than seven months on charges of aiding the insurgency. Spain has made a total of 46 arrests so far.



Nearly two years after the train bombings in Madrid killed 191 people on March 11, 2004, fears are growing that the country is becoming increasingly fertile ground for the recruitment of Islamic terrorists



The network just broken up was the most sophisticated of those uncovered so far. Cells based in Barcelona and Madrid raised money, falsified documents, and recruited and indoctrinated potential terrorists. The recruits were then sent to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the American forces’ most wanted man in Iraq, and other terrorist leaders.



The network had links with terrorist groups in countries including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey and Syria.



Read More: The New York Times