Police find militant video in Madrid flat

Financial Times ^ | April 08 2004 | Reuters

[knighthawk]

MADRID (Reuters) - Police have found a video in the rubble of a building blown up by suspected Islamic militants giving Spain an ultimatum of one week to pull out troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, news agency Europa press has reported.

A group of Islamic militants blew themselves up in the building last weekend when cornered by police, and had been believed to be planning more attacks this weekend after a series of train bombs on March 11 killed 191 people.

Interior Ministry officials were not immediately available to comment.

The report on Thursday said the video showed three heavily armed Arab men who read a statement in which they call on Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and may have been recorded by the suicide bombers before they blew themselves up.

Police are already investigating a letter received by a newspaper on Saturday, purportedly from al Qaeda, which threatened more attacks unless Madrid withdrew its troops.

That followed a video left outside the main Madrid mosque, days after the March 11 train bombings, which also threatened further attacks in Spain linked to its presence in Iraq.

Sources close to the investigation have said the suicide bombers may have been planning a series of Holy Week attacks before getting cornered, based on two or three prepared bombs and loose explosives found in the apartment.

Spain's Socialists, elected after the March bombings, pledged long before the poll to pull troops out of Iraq unless the United Nations takes over by June 30.

[knighthawk]

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[Shermy]

Video text in Spanish

[knighthawk]

Al Qaeda threat to Spain taped just before explosion
A video containing an Al Qaeda ultimatum to Spain was recorded by the suspected organisers of the March 11 Madrid train bombings minutes before they blew themselves up to avoid capture by police, Spanish media reported on Friday.

The video, demanding the "immediate" withdrawal of Spanish troops from "Muslim lands" - a reference to the US-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan - was found in the ruins of an apartment where seven Islamic militants committed collective suicide.

It showed three armed, masked men, one of whom read out a statement containing the ultimatum in the name of "the Al Mufti and Ansar Al Qaeda brigades".

Radio Cadena Ser quoted anti-terrorist experts as saying that the video was recorded minutes before the men killed themselves, because it also showed the apartment door buckling as Spanish police attempted to force their way in with explosives.

--AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1084770.htm