Spain arrests 16 over recruiting Islamist fighters

Madrid, May 29: Spain today said it had arrested 16 people suspected of recruiting Islamist fighters for Iraq and North Africa.

The 14 Moroccans and two Algerians were alleged to have indoctrinated others with radical Islamic teachings and about ''jihad'', or holy war, the government said in a statement.

''Moreover, (the group) was allegedly linked with the financing and sending of combatants to different terrorist organisations in North Africa and other countries in conflict like Iraq.'' Thirteen were arrested in Barcelona and nearby towns, two in Aranjuez, 50 km south of Madrid, and one in the resort city of Malaga.

Documents, diaries, computers and mobile telephones were seized in an operation that police said was connected to the arrest of 22 people in January.

Police have now arrested more than 100 Islamist suspects since deadly train bombings in Madrid in 2004, detaining some over an alleged plot to blow up Madrid's high court.

They have also stepped up security in Spain's North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which have sizeable Muslim populations.

Bruno Cardenosa, a Spanish journalist who writes about international terrorism, said the arrests did not indicate a major threat to Spain from Muslim militants.

''We have seen several operations against Islamic terrorism in Spain in recent years, in which the charges have not been that serious. Very probably, most of these suspects will be out in the coming hours or days,'' said Cardenosa.

Spain is officially home to about 570,000 Moroccans -- the biggest immigrant group in the country, a large proportion of whom live in Catalonia.

The arrests occurred as the Madrid trial of 29 people accused of killing 191 people in the train bombings begins to draw to a close. The suspects are mainly Moroccans. Authorities have linked the bombings to al Qaeda.

Reuters>