al-Qaida suspect made videos of Twin Towers

Spanish police arrested three suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network yesterday, one of whom had videotaped key buildings in the US, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said.

One of the men, who are of Syrian origin, had video tapes from an apparent tourist trip to the US, during which he had recorded footage of installations and monuments, Mr Acebes said.

Two tapes showed mostly images of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York from all angles and distances.

The September 11 suicide attacks on the centre and the Pentagon killed about 3,000 people.

The video “was obviously not what a tourist would make”, the minister said.

The suspect had also filmed bridges, focusing especially on the supports, while another two videos showed violent Mujahideen “terrorist training” fighting and suicide bombers.

Bin Laden is regarded by Washington as the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the US sent troops to Afghanistan to hunt his network.

The suspected leader of the attacks, Mohamed Atta, is said to have held a “summit” with other alleged conspirators in Spain last summer to plan the suicide flights.

The latest police swoop was part of the investigation into al-Qaida in Spain and brought to 23 the number of suspects arrested by Spanish police.

One of the latest suspects was “directly implicated in the financial activities of the al-Qaida cell, which has already been dismantled, and maintained very close relations with cell leaders of this organization,” the minister said.