Spanish police believe a top al-Qaida operative in Europe put two key suspects in the Madrid bombings in contact with each other and gave the planned attack the blessing of Osama bin Laden’s terror organisation, a newspaper reported today.

French security service agents apprehended 13 suspected militants, including one about to flee the country, in a dawn raid today that was launched to track down the perpetrators of a terrorist attack in Morocco last year.

Life imprisonment faces those convicted of terrorist offences against shipping under a tough new Bill being introduced by the Government in the aftermath of the Madrid attacks.