Spanish 'evidence' of terror guilt

All the suspects deny links to terrorist groups

Spanish media have published extracts from telephone calls thought to link eight men arrested over the weekend with Osama Bin Laden.

I am preparing certain things that should please you

Excerpt from tapped phone call

The men are accused of being a Spanish cell of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, and of having had a direct role in the preparation of the 11 September suicide attacks on the US.

The calls were made from abroad by someone using the name Shakur, and were picked up by Spanish police.

"I am preparing certain things which should please you," Shakur said at the beginning of August.

"In our lessons, we entered the field of aviation and we cut the bird's throat," he said on 27 August, apparently speaking in code, in a call to one of the arrested men, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarbas.

'Extreme' security

The eight men have been charged by investigating judge Baltasar Garzon with offences including "a terrorist attack against people".

Yarbas: Phone number said to have been found in Hamburg flat

They are among 11 men with Tunisian, Algerian and Syrian backgrounds arrested last Tuesday in Madrid and the southern city of Granada.

Three have been freed, but will have to return to court when asked.

"The extreme security measures and the coded nature of the conversations indates that they were referring to 11 September," Mr Garzon said.

All 11 denied having any connection with any terrorist group or Bin Laden.

Hamburg connection

Garzon said Imad Eddin Barakat Yarbas's telephone number was found in the Hamburg flat of Mohammed Atta, who is believed to have been the hijackers' leader.

He said he thought a Spanish al-Qaeda cell had been formed in the mid-1990s, and recruited Islamic fighters for the conflicts in Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan.

The eight men were also charged with belonging to a terrorist organisation, theft, falsifying documents, and illegal possession of arms.

Police seized computer material, videos of Islamic guerrilla activities, hunting rifles, swords, false identity documents and a substantial quantity of money in the raids.

Judge Garzon is best known internationally for his attempts to have former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet extradited to Spain to face trial for human rights crimes.

Strasbourg

The arrests in Spain follow a number of arrests across Europe, as authorities move against those with suspected links to Bin Laden's group.

Last week, five Algerian militants alleged to have links with Bin Laden were arrested in Strasbourg.

The four men and one woman were said to have been plotting to launch attacks in the French city.

They were also suspected of organising the escape to Spain of Mohamed Besnakhria, an Algerian said to be one of Bin Laden's chief lieutenants in Europe.