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Bin Laden arrests in Spain

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish police have arrested six suspected associates of Osama bin Laden, the man Washington blames for the U.S. hijack attacks.

The Interior Ministry confirmed the arrests -- the first in Spain in connection with bin Laden since the September 11 strikes -- had taken place in various provincial towns in Spain.

The government said the six belonged to an Algerian Islamic cell called the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which is on the list of 27 terror-related entities whose assets were frozen by the Bush administration.

The arrests, which began on Tuesday evening, are the latest in a series of swoops across the world targeting suspected associates of the Saudi-born millionaire.

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Bin Laden is also wanted by the FBI for allegedly plotting the U.S. Embassy bomb attacks in Africa in 1998.

Spanish police seized fake identity documents and computer material. They also seized airplane tickets for Spain to Algeria and for Spain to France.

The six arrested Algerians were involved in acquiring and shipping optical, communications and computer equipment to militant groups in Algeria, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

They were also suspected of credit card fraud that allowed them to finance their activities, the statement added.

The government said the six people arrested were part of a network operating in Europe, which receives financial support from bin Laden and training in his camps in Afghanistan.

It identified the six arrested people as Mohamed Boualem Khnouni, who has the alias "Abdallah," and is the alleged leader of the group; Mohamed Belaziz; Yasin Seddiki; Hakim Zerzour; Hocine Khouni; and Madjid Sahouane, alias "Äbderrahman" and "Äbdelmajid."

The six comprised a terrorist cell, the government said, that was "directly related," with two people detained recently -- Tunisian Nizar Trabelsi, who was arrested earlier this month in Belgium, and Jermoe Courtellier, alias "Selkman," who was arrested in Holland.

These two are alleged to belong to a group which planned attacks against U.S. objectives in Europe.

The Spanish government said the six people arrested also had an "international connection" with Essid Sami Ben Khemais, alias "Saber."

He was arrested in Italy, where he allegedly directed militants operating in Milan and Varesse.

The Salafist group is described as a faction that split from Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which "appears to have eclipsed the GIA since about 1998 and is currently assessed to be the most effective remaining armed group inside Algeria."

Since the attacks on Washington and New York an international investigation has swung into action focusing on bin Laden, his associates and his financial network.

Police and security forces have also been pouring over previously innocuous crimes. Italian police have reopened investigations into the theft of an American Airlines uniform from a Rome hotel.

In Europe arrests have been made in Germany, France, the UK, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. Further arrests have been made in the U.S. and Canada.



 
 
 
 


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• French National Gendarmerie
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