Spanish police have arrested two more suspects in connection with the March 11th train bombings that killed 191 people, raising to 17 the number of people held.
The arrests took place on Saturday, one in the Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada and the other in the Spanish territory of Ceuta on the north coast of Africa, a court official confirmed today.
The same day four or five suspected train bombers blew themselves up, also killing a police officer, rather than give in to capture during a raid on their apartment in a Madrid suburb.
The blast also wounded 15 other police officers. Up to three suspects may have escaped before the explosion.
Yesterday, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said one of the men killed in the explosion was Serhane ben Abdelmajid Farkhet (35) a Tunisian described by the judge leading the investigation as "the energising force" for holy war in Spain and leader of the train bombing cell.
Another to die was identified as Abdennabi Kounjaa (28) who, like the Tunisian, was the subject of an international arrest warrant.
Police said today bombing suspect Jamal Ahmidan (33) was among those who died.
He was believed to have rented the run-down country home where the bombs were prepared. He the third from the list of six suspects named in international arrest warrants issued last week by the Spanish High Court.
The Madrid train bombings came three days before Spain's March 14th general elections, when voters threw out a strongly pro-American party in favor of incoming Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who is threatening to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.