National
Three suspected suicide bombers amongst Barcelona Islamic terrorist arrests
By m.p.
Jan 23, 2008 - 10:23 PM

Ten of the remaining suspected Islamic terrorists to remain in custody following the arrest of 14 suspects in Barcelona last Saturday have been remanded to custody by the National Court judge, Ismael Moreno. Two had previously been released by the Civil Guard on Tuesday, and the remaining two were released after questioning by the judge. Europa Press news agency names the two latest releases as Mohamed Imren and Sarosh Aki Mohamed.

It’s understood that three of those now held on remand are suspected to be suicide bombers who planned terrorist attacks on the Catalan capital’s public transport system sometime over last weekend. The three names have been given as Mohamed Shoaib, Mehmooh Khalib and Imran Cheema, and they are believed to have come to Barcelona between October last year and this month, arriving from Pakistan.

The judge named the ideological and operational leaders of the group as Maroof Ahmed Mirza and Mohammad Ayud Elahi Bibi, with the former also named as the religious leader and the person responsible for organising terrorist attacks. The remainder are Mohamed Tarik, Qadeer Malik, Hafeez Ahmed, Roshan Jamal Khan, and Shaib Iqbal. Judge Moreno said the cell followed the ideologies of the Tablighi Jamaat movement, a movement which the judge said believes the indiscriminate use of violence is justifiable in achieving their aims, both political and religious. All denied the charges against them in court.

It’s also been revealed that substances and other materials seized in property searches which took place in the El Raval district of the city – four house searches and a mosque – provided the components necessary to make explosive devices, which while having little destructive power, would have been enough to use for practice in making bombs.

Ismael Moreno said they were very close to reaching the technical skills needed for manufacturing bombs.