A co-defendant told police that a key al-Qaida suspect – who earlier this week called himself a peace-loving moderate Muslim – is a radical who recruited men for “holy war” training in Afghanistan, according to testimony read to a Madrid court today.

Spaniards went to the polls today in a general election thrown wide open by a reported al-Qaida claim that it staged the Madrid rail bombings to punish the government for supporting the Iraq war.