Spain Arrests 6 In Alleged Islamic Cell

October 24, 2007

Author: Staff Writer

Source: CBS News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/24/ap/europe/main3402747.shtml

Spanish police broke up an Islamic cell suspected of using the Internet to recruit fighters for the Iraq insurgency, arresting six people Wednesday in raids in northern Spain, authorities said.

The five men and a woman, all from Algeria or Morocco, were arrested in or near the city of Burgos, the Interior Ministry said. The cell is unrelated to 22 people indicted Tuesday on charges of recruiting potential suicide bombers for Iraq.

The new cell allegedly was led by an Algerian, Abdelkader Ayachine, who ran a Muslim butcher shop in Burgos. In addition to recruiting potential fighters for Iraq, authorities said the group sought donations through the shop for people jailed in Morocco in connection to a May 2003 suicide bombing in Casablanca that killed 45 people, the ministry said.

Members of the group called themselves "Los Ansar," an apparent reference to Ansar el Islam, an al-Qaida-linked group that operates in Iraq, the ministry said.