Police foil European terrorist attacks

EXPLOSIVE and chemical attacks planned for continental Europe and London, were foiled by police raids in two countries yesterday.

Spanish police, acting on a British tip-off, yesterday arrested 16 suspected members of the al-Qaida terrorist network they believe were preparing attacks.

The men, most of them Algerians, are connected with other alleged terrorists arrested recently in Britain and France, officials said.

Meanwhile, in Italy, police found a map of the London Underground when they arrested five Moroccans in an abandoned farmhouse containing more than two pounds of plastic explosives.

The explosives were hidden inside a sock and police also found several maps pinpointing sensitive targets, including a nearby Nato base.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said police seized a large amount of explosive and chemical material and documents in yesterday's raids on 12 apartments in Barcelona and other cities in north-eastern Spain.

"Those arrested were preparing to commit attacks with explosives and chemical materials," Mr Aznar said.

More than 150 police officers using sniffer dogs took part in the raids, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said. British police have carried out a series of arrests this month since the deadly poison ricin was found in a London apartment.

In late December, French police arrested four alleged Islamic militants who they said were planning bomb or gas attacks in France and Russia.

Mr Acebes said those arrested in Spain yesterday were mainly Algerian citizens and suspected members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an Algerian extremist organisation.

Mr Acebes said they had links to Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks Police also found containers with some chemical components found in resins and synthetic rubber.

They also confiscated timing and remote-control devices of the type used in bombs In Italy, the five Moroccan terror suspects were being questioned yesterday.

Police acknowledged the arrests near the northern city of Rovigo on Wednesday netted maps and explosives The five Moroccan men have been charged with possessing explosives, and deny all charges, their lawyer Sofia Tiengo said.

Investigating magistrates suspect that the five may have links with Italian or British-based Islamic terrorist groups.