Spain arrests militant suspects

Police raided several premises, including homes

Spanish police have arrested at least 10 suspected Islamist militants in a series of pre-dawn raids in Barcelona.

Spanish judicial authorities say that most of the detainees are of Pakistani origin.

Police said they found no arms or explosives in the raids on several premises, including private homes.

Authorities have dampened suggestions that the arrests are linked to al-Qaeda or the 11 March train bombings in Madrid, in which 191 people died.

"An operation was launched against Islamic activists and several people were detained," a spokesman for Catalonia regional police told AFP news agency.

The BBC's Katya Adler in Madrid says the operation was ordered by Ismael Moreno, an investigating judge at the Spanish High Court.

The men are suspected of belonging to a militant Islamist cell based in Barcelona, a spokesman for the court said.

Barcelona's autonomous police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, raided a series of properties in the El Raval and Trinitat Vella districts of the city.

They seized a number of documents now being examined by detectives.

A spokesman for the Mossos d'Esquadra described those arrested as members of an "organised criminal group" with possible links to foreign-based Islamists, Spanish radio reports.

The men are not believed to be operating an al-Qaeda terror cell in Barcelona, the spokesman added.