Moroccan extremist group is focus of Madrid probe

SPAIN’S interior minister named a Moroccan extremist group yesterday as the main focus of the probe into the Madrid terror bombings.

Angel Acebes said authorities will investigate links between the prime suspects in detention and "terrorist groups or fundamentalist groups, especially the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group".

The group had surfaced in Spanish news reports but this was the first time a Spanish official had cited it publicly as possibly behind the attacks.

Moroccan investigators have also said they are focusing on two principal extremist groups the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group and Salafia Jihadia.

Salafia Jihadia is accused by the Moroccan government of organising five nearly simultaneous attacks on May 16, 2003, in Casablanca that killed 45 people, including 12 suicide bombers.

The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group is a forerunner to the Salafia Jihadia and is considered to be the first radical jihad movement in Morocco.

Acebes said the other focus of the probe is to determine who is the mastermind behind the attacks.

"It's possible that there will be more arrests in the next days," he said.

A Spanish judge yesterday charged two more suspects as the death toll from the massacre rose to 191.

Shortly after the hearing ended, an investigator said another suspect had been arrested.