Morocco is sending a security delegation to Spain to help interrogate three Moroccan nationals suspected of
helping plan the train bombings Thursday in Madrid which killed about 200.
Officials said the suspects were linked to Islamic insurgency groups. Moroccan government spokesman Nabil Bin Abdullah identified the three
suspects held by Spain as Jamal Zougam, 30; Mohamed Bekkali, 31, and Mohamed
Chaoui, 34. Bin Abdullah said all three came from northern Morocco.
Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said Sunday that authorities have
recovered a videotape of a man who claimed that Al Qaida was responsible for
the attacks.
"It's a claim made by a man in Arabic with a Moroccan accent," Acebes
said. "He makes the declaration in the name of someone who says he is the
military spokesman of Al Qaida in Europe."
Western intelligence agencies have judged that Islamic insurgency
groups in either Morocco or Algeria were connected to the 10 backpack bombs
detonated by cellular phones in Madrid on Thursday. Intelligence sources
said the Salafist Jihadiya group, deemed a subcontractor for Al Qaida, could
have helped plan the attacks with help from Basque or other insurgency
elements in Spain.
The Salafist group was believed to have worked with Al Qaida in the 10
suicide bombings that took place in May 2003 in Casablanca. The sites
selected by the suicide bombers included Jewish and Spanish targets.
Another Islamic insurgency group in Morocco with ties to Al Qaida is the
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group. Unlike the Salafist group, the MICG has
been listed by the State Department's latest "Patterns of Global Terrorism"
report.
Officials said members of both Moroccan groups have trained in Al Qaida
camps in Afghanistan. Many returned to Morocco after the U.S. invasion of
Afghanistan in October 2001.