Madrid bombing suspects freed

A Spanish judge today freed the six latest suspects detained in the Madrid rail bombings, a court official said.

The six Moroccans were released after overnight questioning during which the judge found insufficient evidence to link them to the March 11 attacks which killed 191 people and injured 1,800 others.

The six had been arrested in Madrid and the southern city of Malaga over the past week.

Eighteen people have been charged in the attacks – six with mass murder and the rest with belonging to or collaborating with a terrorist organisation. Fourteen of the 18 are Moroccan.

Outgoing Interior Minister Angel Acebes this week said the bombings were carried out by an autonomous cell that financed the plot by selling hashish and the designer drug Ecstasy.

Acebes said most of the culprits were in jail awaiting possible trial or were killed when seven suspected terrorists blew themselves up April 3 as police moved in to arrest them. Acebes refused to rule out future attacks by cell members who remain at large.