Moroccan arrested has same name as man linked to Qaeda

1.00pm

RABAT - One of the three Moroccans arrested in connection with the Madrid train blasts has the same name as a man mentioned in an indictment of al Qaeda suspects in Spain last year, records show.

A man by the name of Jamal Zougam was mentioned at least three times in an indictment issued last September by Spanish High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon in an investigation into suspected Islamic militant operations.

Moroccan authorities said on Sunday they had identified three Moroccans arrested in Madrid in connection with last week's attacks that killed 200 people, one of whom was 30-year-old office worker Jamal Zougam.

The Spanish Interior Ministry could not confirm on Sunday whether the man arrested in the bombings was the one mentioned in the indictment.

Garzon's indictment said Zougam's home in Spain was searched in August 2001 at the request of Paris in relation to a probe into radical Islamists in France.

Among the items found at Zougam's home was the mobile phone number of Imad Eddim Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, described as the leader of al Qaeda in Spain.

Zougam was described in the document as a follower of Abu Dahdah and it said he had called the al Qaeda leader on September 5, 2001.

Zougam was not indicted by Garzon, whose documents also spelled his name as Zougan.

Abu Dahdah is alleged to have travelled throughout Europe, Turkey and Afghanistan to conspire with other "mujahideen", including those of the Hamburg cell of September 11, 2001 hijacker Mohammed Atta, who travelled in Spain in July 2001.

Investigators believe mobile phones were used to detonate 10 bombs hidden in backpacks on the four trains in Madrid on Thursday, killing 200 and injuring 1,500.

Spain said on Saturday three Moroccans and two Indians were being held on suspicion of involvement in the sale and falsification of a mobile phone and SIM card found in an unexploded bomb in a backpack on one of the trains.

Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said one or more of those arrested may have links to Moroccan militant groups but it was too early to say for sure.

Moroccan Communications Minister and government spokesman Nabil Benabdallah said the three Moroccans were born in the north of the country, in the cities of Tangiers and Tetouan.

The others arrested were Mohamed Bekkali, 31, a mechanic, and Mohamed Chaoui, 34, a factory worker, the minister said in comments published by the official MAP news agency on Sunday. He gave no other details.

- REUTERS