Spanish police make arrest in hunt for bombers

Police investigating the Madrid terror bombings arrested a Moroccan whose telephone number was found in the ruins of an apartment where seven suspects blew themselves up, the Interior Ministry said today.

The man, whose name was not released, was arrested Thursday night in Parla, a town just south of Madrid, a ministry official said.

The suspect’s telephone number was found in the wreckage of an apartment where seven suspects, including the suspected ringleader of the attacks, blew themselves up on April 3 as police prepared to storm the apartment and arrest them, the official said.

The attacks on March 11 killed 191 people and wounded more than 2,000, and have been blamed on Islamic militants with possible links to al Qaida.

Eighteen people have been charged so far – six with mass murder and the rest with collaborating with or belonging to a terrorist organisation. Six of the 18 have been released from jail but still face charges.

On Thursday, the FBI arrested an American lawyer, Brandon Mayfield, in a suburb of Portland, Oregon as a material witness in the case.

Spanish officials say Mayfield’s fingerprints were found on a plastic bag containing detonators of the kind used in the attacks. The bag was found in a van left near the station from which three of the four trains bombed on March 11 departed.