SPAIN: Sixteen men suspected of links with al-Qaeda were arrested in Spain yesterday. Four others were released after questioning, although police have not ruled out further detentions.
The men, of North African origin, were detained in a series of raids near the Catalan cities of Barcelona, Girona and Tarragona in the early hours of the morning. The towns have large immigrant communities, many from Algeria and Morocco.
Some 150 police officers carried out simultaneous raids on a dozen apartments shortly before dawn, and sealed off roads leading to the motorway linking Barcelona with the French border.
The operation, code-named Operation Lago, followed a tip-off from French police, and is connected with the arrests of Islamic militants in the UK, Italy and France.
Ten of the men have been transferred to Madrid for further interrogation by Judge Guillermo Ruiz Polanco, who is conducting the case.
Police are attaching special importance to these men, who are believed to have had contacts with the organisation responsible for the Bali bombing last October, in which 200 people died, with the discovery of a quantity of the poison ricin in UK, and with alleged plans to carry out a gas attack in the Paris metro system.
A large quantity of explosive and chemical material was discovered in the searches, as well as bomb-making instructions, electronic material, remote control and timing devices and equipment to manufacture false credit cards, passports and identity papers.
Police chemists are examining two barrels of an unidentified substance which reportedly is some kind of resin.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Mr José María Aznar, yesterday described the arrests as "an extraordinarily important strike in the war against international terrorism".