Spain Disrupts Terror Plot

Islamic Radicals Planned to Blow Up Court Complex

By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service

PARIS, Oct. 19 -- Spanish authorities said Tuesday they disrupted a plot by a cell of Islamic radicals to blow up a Madrid court complex that serves as the home for the country's top anti-terrorism investigators and judges. Police arrested eight suspects in six different cities on Monday and Tuesday in an effort to break up the cell, which was composed primarily of people with criminal records, according to statements released by the Spanish Interior Ministry. Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said the suspects were planning an attack on the National Court building in Madrid. "Police are not ruling out other possible targets," he told reporters Tuesday.

Authorities carried out searches in several locations across Spain but said they did not find any explosives or signs that an attack was imminent. Investigators also said they found no evidence to suggest that the alleged plotters were connected with the train bombings in Madrid in March that killed 191 people. The Interior Ministry said the cell included four Algerians and one Moroccan. Some members of the group had been in touch recently with individuals in other European countries, as well as the United States and Australia, according to ministry officials, who did not elaborate on the contacts or give other details about the alleged plot.

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So much for pulling their troops out of Iraq to prevent futher attacks. What was at the time, a classic knee-jerk reaction, is now proving to have been useless. All countries are viable targets...