Terror Group Warns Spain on U.S. Support

Yahoo News ^ | 4/05/04 | MAR ROMAN, AP

[kattracks]

MADRID, Spain - An Islamic group that claims responsibility for the Madrid bombings says it will turn Spain "into an inferno" unless the country halts its support for the United States and withdraws its troops from Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites).

The threat came in a letter faxed to the Spanish daily newspaper ABC over the weekend, the paper said Monday. ABC said the letter was handwritten in Arabic and signed "Abu Dujana Al Afgani, Ansar Group, al-Qaida in Europe."

The same person claimed responsibility for the March 11 bombings in a videotape found outside a Madrid mosque two days after the attacks.

The fax came just hours before five terror suspects blew themselves up in an apartment in Leganes, south of Madrid, to avoid police capture.

The government believes the suicide blast killed two of the alleged ringleaders of last month's Madrid train bombings, including one known as "the Tunisian," and three other terror suspects.

Two or three suspects may have escaped before the blast, which also killed a special forces officer and wounded 15 other policeman.

The letter gave Spain until Sunday, April 4, to fulfill its demands of ending support for the United States and withdrawing troops from both countries.

"If these demands are not met, we will declare war on you and ... convert your country into an inferno and your blood will flow like rivers," the letter said.

The group said it had showed its force with the "blessed attacks of March 11" and the planting of a bomb along the high-speed railway line linking Madrid and the Seville last week, which did not explode.

ABC cited unidentified sources in Spain's National Intelligence Center as saying the letter's authenticity appeared "fairly credible." It said the language used in the letter was similar to that used in the video.

The intelligence agency has linked the Ansar group to the Tunisian ringleader killed in the suicide blast Saturday evening.

Ansar al-Islam is an Islamic extremist guerrilla group blamed for terrorist strikes in Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Morocco.

A respected French private investigator says Spanish police believe that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian terror suspect with links to the Ansar group and al-Qaida, coordinated the Madrid attacks.

The railway bombings, which killed 191 persons and injured some 1,800, came three days before Spain's general elections. Many saw the bombings as a reprisal for the Spanish government's support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The opposition Socialist party, which had opposed the war along with most Spaniards, won the elections, in part due to anger over the attacks.

In one of its first statements, the party said it planned to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30 unless the United Nations (news - web sites) took control of the situation there. The party later said it intended doubling its troop numbers in Afghanistan to 250 to show it was committed to fighting terrorism.

[aardvark1]

Proof of the old saying, "Give an inch they take a mile."

Message to Spain...you rolled over once, it's time to do it again and again and again and again......

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[justa-hairyape]

Darn, maybe if Spain quickly calls a national election, they could elect an Al Queda terrorist as President. Yeah, that will solve all their problems. Looks like an all out war in Spain. Perhaps Spain may need to recall its troops to fight the battle at home. We definitly dont want American Soilders on the ground in Spain. Western Europe is a lost cause.

[observer5]

Excellent, let's see what will be next they want...

[Arpege92]

I really don't understand how the people of Spain can take this kind of crap from terrorists. They kill almost two hundred Spanish citizens and are again threatening to kill more. I'm sitting here enraged at the nerve these animal terrorists seem to have and I'm not even Spanish.

Wake up Spain and grow a friggen spine already. They are not going to stop attacking you until Spain is a Muslim country.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Appeasement doesn't work raising children, and darn sure won't work dealing with radical islamic terrorists. The adults in Spain need to wake up and deal with these vermin.

[bushfamfan]

Yeah, the terrorists just love them. They know how lame they are.

[Always Right]

Why doesn't the government just step down now and let the terrorists run things. It is only a matter of time.

[mrtysmm]

It looks like Spain is joining the ranks of the French...the "I surrender" crowd. What do they think they'll gain from that?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Their demands are non-negotiable.

[Loyal Buckeye]

My guess is that the Spainards will do some internal soul searching and do the right thing, i.e., tell the thugs to go pound sand.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"I really don't understand how the people of Spain can take this kind of crap from terrorists."

They're Europeans. That's what they do.

[rageaholic]

Actually, I think the Spaniards just need to be pushed a little more. They had a problem with arab terrorists before and dealt them such a crushing blow, the arabs didn't dare to come back for centuries.

[Happy2BMe]

"MADRID, Spain - An Islamic group that claims responsibility for the Madrid bombings says it will turn Spain "into an inferno" unless the country halts its support for the United States and withdraws its troops from Iraq."

Onward Muslime soldiers - ping.