INTELLIGENCE-SUMMIT.blogspot.com (AKI): Madrid - "MIDDLE EAST: IRAQ-TRAINED JIHADISTS RETURNING TO SPAIN, REPORT" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Police believe the 11 Ceuta suspects are related to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), which is thought to have been involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings - in which 191 people died - and the 2003 suicide attacks on Casablanca that killed 45.")
stepping back in time...
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY - JS-2668: "Treasury Designates Three Individuals Linked to Al Qaida Terror Cell in Italy" (PRESS RELEASE SNIPPET: "The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated three individuals residing in Italy pursuant to Executive Order 13224 for providing financial and/or material support to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, a group tied to al Qaida. "Today's action targets individuals operating an al Qaida-linked terrorist cell in Italy that recruited combatants, raised funds for terrorist activities and even planned terrorist attacks," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI). "We will continue to stand with Italy and our other allies around the world to attack the financing of terrorism." Ahmed El Bouhali, Faycal Boughanemi and Abdelkader Laagoub are members of a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist organization established in Cremona, Italy in 1998 with the aim of committing terrorist attacks in Italy and other countries, including Morocco and Tunisia. Information available to the U.S. Government shows the Cremona organization has contacts with al Qaida and Ansar Al Islam cells operating in Italy and abroad. Additionally, the group has ties to the extremist organization, Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which was designated by the United States on November 22, 2002 under E.O. 13224. Mourad Trabelsi and Noureddine Drissi are members of the Cremona terrorist cell and have been designated by the United States. Notably Trabelsi headed the group until April 2003, when both he and Drissi were arrested. Investigations by Italian authorities have produced evidence that the Cremona terrorist organization recruited volunteers for paramilitary training, collected funds for terrorism, and planned terrorist attacks.") (August 1, 2005)