Tunisian named as leader of Madrid terror attacks

A TUNISIAN who has campaigned for a holy war in Spain was yesterday named as the leader of the Madrid terror bombers.

Court documents said Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet sought along with five others under an international arrest warrant was "leader and co-ordinator of the people allegedly implicated".

Sarhane, alias El Tunecino, has lived in Spain for 12 years, is said to have been previously followed by anti-terrorist forces.

Police say they believe some of the chief terrorists are among the 19 people in custody. Fourteen have been charged six of them with the murder of 191 people in the train bombings. Court documents said Sarhane was an active campaigner for jihad, or holy war among some of the suspects already in custody.

The documents made no mention of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which was identified this week as the main focus of the probe. It was the forerunner of Salafia Jihadia, which Morocco blamed for Casablanca bombings that killed 33 people.

Meanwhile, the names of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Abdelkrim Mejjati, have surfaced as possible senior organisers of Spain's worst terrorist attack. Jamal Zougam, a Moroccan already jailed and charged with mass murder had been seen as the prime suspect.