Spanish police have arrested 16 suspected Islamist militants, 11 of whom were linked to al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Interior Ministry said today.
Most of the 11 are Moroccan. They were arrested as part of a probe that began in 2004.
Some 500 Spanish police took part in raids in Barcelona, Valencia, the southern Andalusia region and Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Morocco.
Al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq is responsible for many of the bloodiest terror attacks in Iraq.
The Spanish ministry said the 11 detainees belonged to a terrorist network that was established in Spain and linked to Ansar al-Islam, thought to have ties with the terror group run by al-Zarqawi.
The other five detainees were linked to last year's commuter train bombing in Madrid, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500. They were arrested yesterday in Madrid and Barcelona, the statement said.
Some of the five had close ties to ringleaders of the attack, the ministry said.
Mohamed Afalah, a fugitive suspect in the bombings, apparently staged a suicide attack in Iraq some time between May 12-19, the statement said without giving a source. It said the target of the alleged attack was not known.
The arrests were ordered by a judge at the National Court, the Madrid-based tribunal that is the hub of Spain's probes of Islamic terror cases, including the train bombings and an al-Qaeda cell currently on trial in Madrid. Three of the 24 defendants are charged with helping plot the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
A total of 26 people have been jailed over the train bombings, and more than 70 others have been questioned and released but are still considered suspects.