Spain foils terror plot

 
Washington Post
October 20, 2004
 

PARIS -- Spanish authorities said Tuesday they disrupted a plot by a cell of Islamic radicals to blow up a Madrid court complex that serves as the home for the country's top anti-terrorism investigators and judges.

Police arrested eight suspects in six different cities on Monday and Tuesday in an effort to break up the cell, according to statements released by the Spanish Interior Ministry.

Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said the suspects were planning to drive a truck filled with 1,000 pounds of explosives into the National Court building in Madrid.

Authorities carried out searches in several locations across Spain but found no explosives or signs that an attack was imminent.

The Interior Ministry said the cell included four Algerians and one Moroccan. Some members of the group had been in touch recently with individuals in other European countries, as well as the United States and Australia, according to ministry officials.