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   From: o@o.org   
      
   Madrid bombing probe finds no al-Qaida link   
   Two-year investigation concludes that terrorists were homegrown radicals   
      
   The Associated Press   
   Updated: 11:05 p.m. ET March 9, 2006   
      
      
   MADRID, Spain - A two-year probe into the Madrid train bombings concludes   
   the Islamic terrorists who carried out the blasts were homegrown radicals   
   acting on their own rather than at the behest of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida   
   network, two senior intelligence officials said.   
      
   Spain still remains home to a web of radical Algerian, Moroccan and Syrian   
   groups bent on carrying out attacks - and aiding the insurgency against U.S.   
   troops in Iraq - a Spanish intelligence chief and a Western official   
   intimately involved in counterterrorism measures in Spain told The   
   Associated Press.   
      
   The intelligence chief said there were no phone calls between the Madrid   
   bombers and al-Qaida and no money transfers. The Western official said the   
   plotters had links to other Islamic radicals in Western Europe, but the plan   
   was hatched and organized in Spain. "This was not an al-Qaida operation," he   
   said. "It was homegrown."   
      
   Both men spoke on condition of anonymity, the first because Spanish security   
   officials are not allowed to discuss details of an ongoing investigation,   
   the second due to the sensitive nature of his job.   
      
   The attack has been frequently described as al-Qaida-linked since a man who   
   identified himself as Abu Dujan al-Afghani and said he was al-Qaida's   
   "European military spokesman," claimed responsibility in a video released   
   two days later.   
      
   Calls for more progress   
   Ahead of Saturday's anniversary of the March 11, 2004 blasts - which killed   
   191 people and wounded 1,500 - victims' groups have been clamoring for more   
   progress in the investigation.   
      
   Gabriel Moris, whose 30-year-old son died in the bombings, said: "These past   
   two years have done nothing to clear up what happened. My questions are   
   simple: Who ordered the massacre? Who killed my son and the other innocent   
   victims?"   
      
   The intelligence official said authorities know more than they have   
   revealed, including the suspected ideological and operational masterminds of   
   the attack.   
      
   "We haven't explained it well enough to the victims because we can't reveal   
   judicial secrets," he said, adding the investigation is nearly complete.   
      
   Laying responsibility   
   Authorities believe the ideological mastermind was Serhan Ben Abdelmajid   
   Fakhet, a Tunisian who blew himself up along with six other suspects when   
   police surrounded their apartment three weeks after the bombings, and that   
   Jamal Ahmidan, a Moroccan who also died that day, was the "military   
    planner."   
      
   Law enforcement had focused on another man, Allekema Lamari, as the head of   
   the group. But the official said evidence, particularly from wiretapped   
   phone conversations, indicated it was Ahmidan who gave the military orders.   
   Lamari also died in the apartment blast in a Madrid suburb as authorities   
   closed in.   
      
   Some 116 people have been arrested in the bombings, and 24 remain jailed. At   
   least three others - Said Berraj, Mohammed Belhadj and Daoud Ouhane - are   
   sought by authorities, though all are believed to have fled Spain long ago.   
   The intelligence official said the top planners are all either dead or in   
   jail.   
      
   While the plotters of the Madrid attack were likely motivated by bin Laden's   
   October 2003 call for attacks on European countries that supported the   
   U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, there is no evidence they were in contact with   
   the al-Qaida leader's inner circle, the intelligence official said.   
      
   Most of the plotters were Moroccan and Syrian immigrants, many with criminal   
   records in Spain for drug trafficking and other crimes. They paid for   
   explosives used in the attack with hashish.   
      
   That is a far cry from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States -   
   allegedly planned by al-Qaida leaders like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi   
   Binalshibh, and funded directly by the terror network through international   
   wire transfers and Islamic banking schemes.   
      
      
   Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and   
   Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, said the   
   model used in Madrid, and likely for the July 7 London transport bombings   
   fits in well with al-Qaida's business plan.   
      
   "Al-Qaida is not and never was a topdown organization that did everything in   
   terms of attacks around the world. They have a key role in ideological terms   
   ... but they rely on local cells and those that are inspired to carry out   
   these attacks," he said.   
      
   After the fact, bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are happy to claim   
   responsibility because they recognize the carnage as inspired by their   
   movement.   
      
   Still, Wilkinson cautioned that just because no direct link has been   
   established between the Madrid plotters and al-Qaida, it doesn't mean none   
   exists. "If security officials knew everything that was going on, we would   
   have caught Osama bin Laden by now," he said.   
      
   'A lot of moving parts'   
   Both the Spanish intelligence chief and the Western official said there is   
   reason for concern despite the lack of a direct al-Qaida connection.   
      
   "There were a lot of moving parts to the March 11 plot, but we were still   
   not able to detect it, and that is scary because a similar thing could   
   happen again," said the Western counterterrorism official. "Since March 11,   
   there have been plans for other significant attacks that the Spanish have   
   disrupted."   
      
   Those plans include a scheme in late 2004 to bomb buildings in Barcelona,   
   including the 1992 Olympic village and office towers known as the city's   
   World Trade Center complex. Police also thwarted a 2004 plot by Moroccan and   
   Algerian militants to level Madrid's National Court - a hub for   
   anti-terrorism investigations - with a 1,100-pound truck bomb.   
      
   And agents specializing in Islamic terrorism have arrested dozens of   
   suspects - all allegedly working to recruit potential suicide bombers for   
   the Iraq insurgency.   
      
   At least two Spanish citizens - including March 11 suspect Mohammed Afalah -   
   are believed to have blown themselves up in Iraq, and an investigation by   
   the respected El Pais daily revealed some 80 others have traveled to the   
   country in recent months intending to do the same.   
      
   The intelligence official said the March 11 attacks were a wakeup call, and   
   authorities are much better prepared now to stop Islamic terrorism. But he   
   said the bombings show how easy it is for those bent on terrorism to carry   
   out attacks.   
      
   Online education   
   He said authorities believe the Madrid bombers learned how to construct the   
   bombs - all connected to Mitsubishi Trium T110 mobile phones - from Internet   
   sites linked to radical Islamic groups. The devices were similar to ones   
   used in the 2002 Bali bombing, he said, evidence that militants in both   
      
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