The Washington Post
MADRID — Alleged members of the al-Qaida network arrested in Spain last week played a role in preparing the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, officials said Sunday, marking the first direct connection between the attacks and a second terrorist cell apparently working in support of the plotters.
Eight men detained last week in Madrid and Granada were ordered held without bail early Sunday morning. In the detention order Judge Baltasar Garzon said the eight "were directly related with the preparation and development of the attacks perpetrated by the suicide pilots on September 11."
The judge said they were part of the al-Qaida network headed by Osama bin Laden.
Officials said the charges were based on documents and intercepted telephone conversations of one of the arrested men, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarbas, who officials said was the leader of the al-Qaida network in Spain. The officials said his name and phone number appeared in a document seized during the search of an apartment of a suspected bin Laden associate in Hamburg, Germany, after Sept. 11.
Yarbas, also known as Abu Dahdah, reportedly met with bin Laden twice and was in close contact with bin Laden’s military chief, Mohamed Atef, who orchestrated al-Qaida-sponsored terrorist attacks, officials here said. Atef was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan last week, according to Pentagon officials.
Also ordered held without bail Sunday was Luis Jose Galan Gonzalez, also known as Yusuf Galan, a Spaniard and Muslim convert formerly linked to the political wing of the Basque group ETA, which is responsible for numerous bombings and assassinations in Spain.
The alleged link between alleged al-Qaida operatives in Spain and Germany could provide a major break in understanding how the attacks were planned and carried out. The suspected leader of the hijackers, Mohammed Atta, visited Spain in January and July 2001, after he had moved to the United States from Hamburg. It is now believed that on those trips he met with some of the arrested members of an al-Qaida cell centered in Madrid.
All eight said they were innocent of the charges and denied belonging to al-Qaida.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
