6A the university daily kansan
world
wednesday, march 31, 2004
Spain focuses on extremist group
Moroccan group linked to bombing of Madrid trains
The Associated Press
MADRID, Spain — The Spanish government named a Moroccan extremist group linked to Al Qaeda as the main focus of the Madrid bombing probe and said yesterday that investigators were making swift progress.
"Other options are not being ruled out, but primarily the investigation is going to go in this direction." Acebes told reporters.
pects were Basque separatists.
The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, forerunner of a group blamed for last year's suicide bombings in Casablanca, is now the "priority," Interior Minister Angel Acebess said — a reversal of the government's initial statements that the prime sus-
The group had surfaced in Spanish news reports, but this was the first time a Spanish government official publicly identified it as the focus of investigation into the March 11 commuter train bombings.
Acebes said witness testimony and the discovery of a rural house where the attackers were believed to have assembled the backpack bombs used in the attacks have led investigators closer to unraveling the plot behind the bombings, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.
"The investigation is advancing. In 18 days we have arrested 23 people including some of the
chief perpetrators of the attack." Acebes said. Moroccan, British and German authorities were involved in the investigation, he added.
Court officials said judge Juan del Olmo would issue an international arrest warrant for five other suspects yesterday.
Of those arrested, 18 people remain in custody.
Fourteen of the suspects have been charged with mass murder or collaborating with or belonging to a terrorist group.
Four more have yet to go before a judge. They are a Moroccan arrested Friday, two Syrians arrested yesterday and Antonio Toro Castro, the brother-in-law of a Spaniard charged with supplying dynamite to the bombers. Court officials identified the Syrians as Walid Altaraki and
Mohamad Badr Ddin Akkad.
At least six witnesses identified prime suspect Jamal Zougam and two other suspects in a lineup on Friday, according to Spanish media reports.
Witnesses said they saw Zougam leave a backpack before stepping off one of the four trains that were bombed, radio station Cadena Ser reported.
Zougam was arrested with his half brother, Mohamed Chaoui, just two days after the attack.
Their mother, Aicha Achab, told newspaper El Mundo that Zougam and Chaoui were innocent and that they were in her Madrid apartment when the attack happened.
"I was preparing breakfast, like every morning, and we saw what happened on television," Achab was quoted as saying.
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Bombers rip through Uzbek capital
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The Associated Press
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan — Police and military clashed with suspected terrorists and 23 people were killed in a third day of violence yesterday that rattled the Uzbek capital during a sweep to round up Islamic militants, witnesses and authorities said.
Government forces besieged an apartment building near the presidential residence in northern Tashkent for nearly five hours after confronting the suicide bombers. Gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the day.
Attacks on Sunday and Monday had killed another 19 people and wounded 26.
Yesterday's violence was centered in the northern Yalangach neighborhood, near the official home of President Islam Karimov.
A reporter from The Associated Press saw four separate sites of fighting in the district.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement read on a state-run television that 20 terrorists and three police were killed in the confrontations that began about 7:20 a.m. Another five police were wounded, the statement said.
The militants blew themselves up with homemade explosives while police tried to arrest them, the ministry said, without elaborating. It said the investigation was continuing.
Police stopped a small car and two alleged terrorists jumped out and detonated explosive-laden belts, killing themselves and three police officers and injuring five more policemen, said a National Security Service officer at the scene who declined to give his name.
In a separate nearby bombing, neighborhood resident Farida Raupkhajayeva said four women in a red car had driven up to a police checkpoint.
When she ignored a police request to stop, they shot her in
One of the women got out of the car and approached a bus that was stopped there, Raupkha-jayeva said.
the legs, then she set off a bomb,
said Raupkhajaeva.
The other three women then ran into an apartment building, where police began the nearly five-hour standoff with the suspects.
An Interior Ministry officer said 16 suspected terrorists had been killed in the apartment building about 100 yards away from the suicide bombing site. Some had been shot by police but others killed themselves with grenades, said the officer, who refused to give his name.
Five men escaped, said a building resident who refused to give her name.
She said the women in the car were wearing hijab veils, only revealing their eyes. She said they were speaking another Central Asian language she could not understand.
A house several hundred yards away showed signs of heavy fighting, its walls blackened by fire and pocked by dozens of bullet holes. Neighbors who were cleaning up charred books and other debris
said four young men had been killed inside the house.
It was unclear whether the four were among the 16 dead the Interior Ministry officer said had been killed in the siege.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilkhom Zakirov said empty trucks and an armored personnel carrier were used to block the route to Karimov's residence.
Several security operations were under way in Tashkent and the surrounding area yesterday, said Svetlana Atikova, spokeswoman for the prosecutor-general's office, without elaborating.
Authorities turned off water, gas and electricity in the district where yesterday's attacks occurred, and residents were forced to cook their evening meals over wood fires in the streets.
The lack of official information led to fear and confusion.
"I don't understand who is killing whom. We learn about things only from rumors and we panic," said Faya Vaganova, a 47-year-old resident.
First Annual
Anthony Daniels Award Nomination
The award is to honor any faculty or staff member who has shown outstanding dedication to diversity through education. The award was established by the 2004 Multicultural Affairs committee of the KU Student Senate as a gift to the University of Kansas.
Forms available at the Student Senate Office on the 4th floor of the Kansas Union, the Multicultural Resource Center, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
Forms are due April 9,2004 at 4:00pm in the Student Senate Office
Please nominate any staff or faculty member who you think exemplifies distinguished achievements in multiculturalism, commitment to the needs of KU students,and contributions to the welfare of students at KU.
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