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Europe

ETA blamed for Pamplona blast

2008-10-31

A car bomb explosion blamed on the Basque separatists at a university in Pamplona, Spain has wounded 17 people and set a building on fire. No one has claimed responsibility for the Thursday explosion but officials are blaming the Basque separatist group ETA for the attack. The bomb went off in a parking lot at the University of Navarra and broke windows and set cars on fire, AP reported. "ETA has once again displayed its vileness," said Jose Antonio Alonso, spokesman in parliament for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapaptero's Socialist party. Seventeen people were slightly injured, some of them as a result of flying glass, the Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said. He went on to add that a man who claimed to be speaking for ETA phoned in a warning to the authorities in the Basque capital, Vitoria an hour before the explosion. He had said that the bomb was packed in a white Peugeot and was due to go off at 'the university campus.' Unfortunately the police thought he was referring to the university in Vitoria and carried out a search there, not knowing that the bomb would go off without warning in Pamplona, 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Vitoria. "Clearly, whoever placed the bomb gave a warning and either intentionally did not give all the information or made a mistake,'' Perez Rubalcaba said. Earlier on Tuesday Spanish police had arrested three suspected members of ETA in Pamplona and another in Valencia. However Rubalcaba refrained from speculating on whether or not Pamplona had been targeted as a result of the arrests. Navarra borders on the Basque region and is home to many Basque-speakers and ETA says that it should be part of the independent homeland it wants to create. ETA called a cease-fire in March 2006 but resumed attacks in December 2006 after peace talks with Zapatero's government failed. Since then, it has been blamed for seven deaths, three of them in 2008.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Spanish PM pays a surprise visit to his troops in south Lebanon

2008-01-06

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero paid a surprise visit on Saturday to Spanish peacekeeping troops serving in south Lebanon praising their role as the most important mission that Spain is contributing to in the world... Zapatero was accompanied by Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonso on the visit to 1,100 Spanish troops who form part of the United Nations peacekeeping force UNIFIL in southern Lebanon.

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Afghanistan

3 killed in attack on Spanish patrol in Afghanistan

2007-09-25

MADRID, Spain - Two soldiers serving with the Spanish contingent in Afghanistan died Monday in a land mine explosion, the defence minister said. An Iranian interpreter traveling with the Spaniards also died in the attack and three other Spanish soldiers were seriously wounded, Jose Antonio Alonso said. Alonso said Spain remains committed to the United Nations-led mission in Afghanistan, to which it has contributed some 700 troops, and that he will go ahead Tuesday with plans to ask Parliament to send 52 more Spaniards to help train Afghan forces. He called it a mission with a very clear purpose _ to rebuild Afghanistan civilly and administratively and keep terrorism from controlling the country.’ Monday’s attack occurred near the town of Shewan while the soldiers were returning from a patrol mission at the head of a column of five vehicles. The explosion apparently occurred when the lead vehicle detonated an explosive device with one of its rear wheels, the minister said. One of the soldiers was Spanish and the other was an Ecuadorean serving with the Spanish contingent. Spain allows people from some Latin American countries to serve in its military forces while retaining their native nationality.

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Europe

Spain: Tensions grow over Lebanon mission

2007-06-28

There's a whoooole lotta finger pointin' goin' on. Madrid, 28 June (AKI) - Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was set to meet his Lebanese counterpart Fouad Siniora on Thursday amid growing divisions in Spain over the country's contribution to a UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon. The previously unscheduled visit by Siniora to Madrid was arranged in the wake of last Sunday's killing of six Spanish soldiers in a car bomb blast near the southern Lebanese town of Khiyam - the first deadly attack on the 13,000-strong UNIFIL force since its deployment following last year's Israel-Hezbollah war. Spanish newspapers on Thursday focused on the bitter contrasts between Zapatero and the leader of the main opposition conservative Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy, who has accused the government of failing to ensure that the 1,100 Spanish soldiers serving in Lebanon receive adequate safety equipment. In particular the absence of frequency inhibitors - which block explosions set off by remote control - on the vehicles carrying the soldiers who died in Sunday's attack. Zapatero has responded by saying that Spanish troops were also not equipped with such mechanisms when his predecessor Jose Maria Anznar of the Popular Party was in power. Aznar had despatched Spanish troops to Iraq as part of the US-led multinational force, a decision reversed by Zapatero when he came to power 2004. According to Madrid-daily El País, Sunday's attack will have an impact on Spanish policy towards peacekeeping missions abroad. In the wake of the attack defence minister Jose Antonio Alonso put on hold the despatch if 50 military instructors to Afghanistan were Spanish troops form part of a NATO force. Conservative daily ABC said it has learnt that the government is trying to identify among military officials those responsible for the failure to equip the vehicles with frequency inhibitors. Another conservative daily, La Razón, pointed out that Italian troops deployed part of UNIFIL in Lebanon have been equipped with frequency inhibitors, contradicting a Spanish defence ministry statement that said no members of the UNIFIL contingent possessed the anti-remote explosion mechanisms.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon links Islamists to the UN attack

2007-06-26

Lebanon on Monday linked a bomb attack that killed six UN peacekeepers in the south of the country to a deadly standoff between Al-Qaeda-inspired militants and the army in the north. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi pointed the finger at the Islamists, based on confessions extracted from Fatah al-Islam gunmen captured during fierce fighting at a Palestinian refugee camp which is now in its sixth week. Security has been tightened in south Lebanon following the attack, which has further rattled the fragile security situation in the deeply divided country. "There is a link between the attack which targeted the Spanish contingent of UNIFIL and the combat between the Lebanese army and the terrorists of Fatah al-Islam in Nahr al-Bared," he told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "Lebanon is the victim of a terrorist wave striking from the north to the south in which the latest target was the Spanish contingent. This attack was preceded by confessions from arrested terrorists about preparations against UNIFIL." It was the first fatal attack on peacekeepers since the UN Interim Force in Lebanon's mandate was expanded last year in the wake of a devastating 34-day war between Israeli troops and the Hezbollah Shiite militia. Lebanese legal sources, quoting confessions from detained fighters, said earlier this month that Fatah al-Islam -- which emerged in the Nahr al-Bared camp late last year -- was planning to attack UN peacekeepers. Abu Salim Taha, a spokesman for the extremist group, had accused UNIFIL forces of siding with the army and threatened to attack the Blue Helmets. Security was heightened in the south on Monday where Spanish Defence Minister Jose Antonio Alonso was visiting his country's troops after the blast, which killed three Spaniards and three Colombian nationals. No one has claimed the attack, which a Lebanese security source said was carried out by car bomb detonated by remote control. It struck as the peacekeepers' armoured vehicle passed by in the Marjayoun-Khiam valley, an area about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Israeli border. A Spanish colonel told reporters it was a "deliberate attack". "This attack was very well prepared in advance," the officer said at the scene. "The bodies of two of the victims were blown several metres (yards) by the force of the blast." UNIFIL commander Major-General Claudio Graziano of Italy said the bombing was aimed at destabilising the region. "It's not an attack against Lebanon and UNIFIL only but against the stability of the region. This attack has made UNIFIL more committed to fulfil its mission in southern Lebanon," he said in a statement. Hezbollah too was quick to condemn the bombing in an area considered its stronghold. "This act of aggression is aimed at increasing insecurity in Lebanon, especially in the south of the country," it said. UNIFIL first deployed in Lebanon in 1978 after an Israeli invasion but was expanded from some 2,000 members after the July-August war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas who dominated the south of the country. It now has 13,225 soldiers from 30 nations, including nearly 1,100 from Spain. The attack came on top of a series of car bombings targeting anti-Syrian politicians in and around Beirut and as the army pursued its bloodiest internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war with Fatah al-Islam. At least 157 people, including 80 soldiers and 55 Islamists, have died in the standoff. Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud said the attack on UNIFIL was part of a "campaign of destabilization". The Lebanese parliament majority accuse Syria of creating, training and funding Fatah al-Islam. They also claim it is an offshoot of Fatah al- Intifadah , an operation of the Syrian Intelligence , created to destabilize the Palestinian refugee camps and undermine Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Syria denied any connections with the militant group, but refused to hand over its leader shaker el Absi to the Jordanians when they asked for his extradition. Absi, the Fatah al Islam leader was sentenced to death by Jordan for the murder of a US diplomat EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner condemned it as a "heinous attack" said those responsible should be swiftly brought to justice. In the north, 11 people died in clashes in the port city of Tripoli overnight Saturday, including six Sunni Islamists from Fatah al-Islam and a policeman's 4-year-old daughter. It was the first clash in the mainly Sunni Muslim city since the fighting between Fatah al-Islam and the army in Tripoli and Nahr al-Bared began on May 20. Three Australian men were also arrested in Tripoli at the weekend and are allegedly Islamist extremists involved in the clashes, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. One of the Islamists that was killed in Tripoli is a Lebanese Australian.

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Europe

Spain's obvious minister sez attack targeted UN resolution 1701

2007-06-26

Spanish Obvious Defence Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said Monday the bomb attack, which targeted a Spanish contingent in the UNIFIL forces Sunday, was an attack targeting Security Council Resolution 1701 and UNIFIL forces themselves. The Spanish minister, who had flown to the south on board a military helicopter was speaking at an obituary service staged for three Spanish soldiers at their contingent headquarters in the South Lebanon town of Marjayoun. He said his country had suffered "a great loss" as a result of the terrorist attack. Spain had made it clear Monday that the attack would not deter its contingent from fulfilling its mission in South Lebanon. Spain, I am sorry for the loss of your brave soldiers. Now will you take this euro and go buy or rent yourselves a clue? It'll happen again, and then again, until the Spaniards realize that the Hezbies are ready to carry out their master's instructions and go get the Israelis, and to do that UNIFIL has to remove itself from the theater. I think the over/under on the next attack is about five days.

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Afghanistan

Spain to send planes, plans, no extra troops to Afstan

2007-02-09

Spain will upgrade its contribution to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan with four unmanned spy aircraft and a plan to train the Afghan army. But it will not be sending more troops to the Central Asian nation. About 700 Spanish soldiers are stationed in Herat and Qala i Naw, in western Afghanistan, where they are working with other NATO forces on security and reconstruction tasks. Defence minister Jose Antonio Alonso was hosting a two-day meeting of NATO defence ministers on Thursday when he made the announcement. The discussions will focus on military operations under way in Afghanistan and Kosovo. Alonso told reporters that he will take advantage of the gathering to meet with U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates, as well as with Russian defence minister Sergei Ivanov. The minister expressed his confidence that by this summer the four unmanned aerial vehicles Spain will buy will be operating in Afghan territory. He made clear that Spain will not increase its troop strength in Afghanistan because, just as in Lebanon, "the Spanish contribution is (already) very important and sufficient". The minister said during the alliance meeting in Seville, Spain will propose the implementation and financing of a plan to train the Afghan army so that it can progressively assume more security tasks within the country. Regarding the increase in the quality of the Spanish contingent, the minister expressed his confidence that by this summer the four unmanned aerial vehicles Spain will buy will be operating in Afghan territory. On his meeting with Gates, Alonso said that he expected to confirm the "good state" of relations between Spain and the United States. He said that during their meeting he and Gates would review the situation in the world, adding that he does not plan to speak about specific matters between the two "allied and friendly" countries, who engage in bilateral dialogue when "disagreements" arise.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

France to lead beefed-up UN force in Lebanon

2006-08-15

France and Italy are leading the scramble to beef up the small UN monitoring force in southern Lebanon which will be key to making the tenuous ceasefire that started Monday durable.Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, unanimously adopted Friday, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is to swell from its current 1,990-strong force to 15,000 international troops. I smell money! Sweet, sweet money for all the EUrocrats and UNocrats. Getcher free money here! Here is a provisional breakdown of countries prepared to contribute troops: “Although frantic moves are being made to get the new UNIFIL deployed as quickly as possible, there is no firm timetable. Israel has said its soldiers will remain in strategic positions in southern Lebanon until UNIFIL troops take over. ” FRANCE French President Jacques Chirac, whose country drafted the UN resolution with the United States, has said France will assume its responsibilities, "particularly concerning the new UNIFIL force." Reports say France would command the UNIFIL deployment. The defence ministry has said it is "too early" to put a figure to France's troop contribution, although press reports have spoken of several thousand. One French official, speaking anonymously, said 4,000 "seems a feasible number," while a military source said the actual number of French soldiers in Lebanon would likely be around 2,500. A French military planning officer was due to arrive at the UN peacekeeping operations department in New York Monday. In addition, five military engineers were expected in Lebanon to assess road transport reconstruction needs. ITALY Italy has agreed to send some troops, according to both the Lebanese and Israeli governments. Italian defence officials cited by the media have spoken of between 2,000 and 3,000 soldiers. The government is to meet on Friday to set out the details of the mission. MALAYSIA Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said the country will send a battalion of 1,000 soldiers once the UN gives the green light. RUSSIA Russia is considering the possibility of participating but the foreign ministry said a decision had not been made. BELGIUM Belgian Defence Minister Andre Flahaut told AFP that Brussels intended to send troops but it was unclear how many because the mandate had not yet been defined. SPAIN A government official told AFP Spain planned to send 700 soldiers. Defence Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said in a radio interview Monday: "It is especially important to arrive at a peace and Spain, as a member of the United Nations, is ready to help out." GERMANY Germany's interior and defence ministers have said they are in favour of contributing soldiers, but no number has been advanced and parliament has yet to vote on any deployment. PORTUGAL Portugal has said it is willing to contribute troops, without specifying how many. THAILAND Thailand has said it would consider "positively" a UN request for troops, without giving a number. INDONESIA, MOROCCO and TURKEY These three Muslim countries have all agreed to take part, according to the Lebanese prime minister's office, but Turkey indicated Monday that it would wait for an expected new UN resolution "to bring more clarity." Again, no firm numbers have been given. These countries are undecided or have apparently ruled out supplying soldiers to the new force: AUSTRALIA Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said he was undecided whether to supply troops. "If we were to make a decision to make a commitment it would be a very small, niche commitment," he said. "We have other responsibilities." BRITAIN British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said his country's military -- engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan -- is too stretched to be involved in the reinforced UNIFIL deployment. INDIA India said there were no plans to add to its 672 soldiers already serving in the current UNIFIL. A foreign ministry spokesman said: "I see nothing leading to that." NORWAY A Norwegian foreign ministry spokeswoman said "it is too early to go into any detail about a Norwegian contribution to a peacekeeping force for Lebanon." UNITED STATES The United States, Israel's closest ally, is thought unlikely to contribute to a force in Lebanon. Although frantic moves are being made to get the new UNIFIL deployed as quickly as possible, there is no firm timetable. Israel has said its soldiers will remain in strategic positions in southern Lebanon until UNIFIL troops take over. UNIFIL, under its original mandate, has been in operating in southern Lebanon for 28 years. That rolling mandate was again extended for one month by a UN Security Council vote on July 31. It currently counts troops from China, France, Ghana, India, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Ukraine, under French command. Under UN resolution 1701, the expanded force is to support the Lebanese army as it takes up positions in southern Lebanon, formerly * cough cough * a Hezbollah-controlled zone, and help in humanitarian work. The resolution says UNIFIL will "take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces, and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind."

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Europe

Spanish al-Qaeda might have been planning European attack

2006-01-11

One of the al-Qaeda members arrested early today in Spain may have been planning an attack in Europe, Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said. Spanish police arrested 20 people comprising two inter- related cells following raids in Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque region, Alonso told reporters in Madrid. The cells were primarily involved in recruiting and training suicide bombers for the Iraq insurgency and had links to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey and Syria, he said. Those arrested included 15 Moroccans, a Turkish man, an Algerian and three Spaniards. The Algerian, leader of the Madrid-based cell, was trained in Afghanistan and sent recruits for Abu Musab al Zarqawi's network, Alonso said. ``The Madrid cell was carrying out the fuller range of activities,'' Alonso said. ``State security forces can't rule out that among their missions they may have been planning violent acts on European territory.'' Spanish authorities have arrested 52 people suspected of involvement in Islamist terrorism in the past two months. All those arrested remain in prison, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. The spokesman declined to be identified. ``There will be another attack somewhere, however many successes there are in terms of arrests of cells,'' said Michael Cox, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, in a telephone interview. ``That's the assumption of most European politicians and intelligence people.'' Those arrested today ``had a greater level of coordination than other groups the police have broken up in recent months,'' Alonso said. The Catalan cell, based near Barcelona in Vilanova i la Geltru, recruited the suicide bomber who killed 19 Italians and 9 Iraqis in the Nov. 12, 2003, attack in the Iraqi city of Nasariya,Alonso said.

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Europe

Spain holds 20 'Iraq recruiters'

2006-01-11

It is the latest in a series of Spanish anti-terror swoops . Spanish police have arrested 20 suspected militant Islamists thought to have recruited and trained sympathisers to join the insurgency in Iraq. The suspects were arrested during pre-dawn raids in and around Madrid, Barcelona and the Basque town of Tolosa, Spanish media report. They included several thought to be linked to a suicide bomber who killed 18 Italian soldiers and nine Iraqis. The bomber attacked an Italian military base in Nasiriya in 2003. Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said there were "strong indications" that several of those arrested had links to the bomber. Fifteen of those arrested on Tuesday were Moroccans, three were Spaniards, one was Turkish and one Algerian, Mr Alonso said. He said two recruitment cells for the Islamist insurgency had been dismantled in the operation. According to Spain's El Pais newspaper, in 2005 the Spanish authorities arrested about 90 suspected Islamist extremists, including 16 allegedly involved in recruiting insurgents to fight US-led forces in Iraq.

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Europe

Spain arrests 15 al-Qaeda recruiters

2005-12-19

Spanish police arrested 15 people Monday on suspicion of recruiting and indoctrinating fighters for Iraq's insurgency, officials said. The cell was in close contact with al-Qaeda members in Iraq and had two people ready to be sent there to wage "holy war," Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told a news conference. The arrests stemmed from a probe that began in January and the cell sent "several" people to fight in Iraq, the minister said without giving a precise figure. More than 100 police officers staged raids that led to the arrests in the regions of Catalonia and Andalusia as well as in Spain's Balaeric Islands, he said. Police agents specializing in Islamic terrorism, explosives or scientific investigation made the arrests in the cities of Lerida, Malaga, Nerja, Seville and Palma on the island of Mallorca. Alonso did not give the nationality of the suspects, although the news agency Efe said they included Moroccans, Ethiopians, a person from Ghana and one Spaniard. Monday's arrests marked the fourth time in less than a month that Spanish police have arrested people suspected of Islamic extremist activities. In a series of arrests beginning in late November, 19 people were arrested on suspicion of belonging to or collaborating with the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an Algerian-based extremist group that has declared allegiance to al-Qaeda. Seven were jailed on preliminary charges of belonging to a terror cell, one still has to go before a judge and the others were released.

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Europe

Spain detains suspects of financially supporting Islamist terror organisation

2005-12-11

Spanish authorities arrested a group of seven suspects, six men and one woman, Friday morning accused of providing financial support to the Algerian organization, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, allegedly affiliated to Al Qaeda. The National Court in Madrid, which sanctioned and supervised the operation, had ordered Special Forces from Madrid associated with the Spanish Civil Guard to assist the police forces in Malaga with the clamp down. Information from the Spanish Anti Terrorism Unit highlighted that the raids took place in the Costa Del Sol region, specifically, Malaga, Marbella, Torremolinos, and Benalmadena. According to the same source, all detainees are originally Algerian. Following the arrests, the seven suspects were transferred to the headquarters of the Spanish Civil Guard in Malaga. It is expected that they will be transferred to the National Court in Madrid for investigation at a later stage. Sources have not ruled out the possibility of further raids by the Spanish Security forces based on information provided in the preliminary interrogations with the suspects on their arrival to Malaga. Spanish Interior Minister, Jose Antonio Alonso, told reporters at a press conference, that it had been confirmed that the detainees were accused of financially supporting the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. He added, "This cell was engaged in providing logistical and financial support to an Algerian Group. However, we have no evidence that they were planning to carry out any terrorist attacks." He confirmed that the suspects were part of a well-organized cell with a defined structure and strong leadership. He further confirmed that money had been transferred to the group directly and indirectly to prevent the transactions being traced. Eyewitness accounts stated that vehicles have been continuously transporting suspects to Malaga's Civil Guard headquarters since the raids Friday morning. The European Press Agency reported that an Algerian woman arrived at Malaga''s Civil Guard headquarters early Friday morning complaining that security forces had raided her house in Los Alamos, in Torremolinos at 2AM and arrested her mother and her mother's Algerian friend who had been staying with them for three weeks. According to European Press, the Algerian woman was unaware of her mother's whereabouts. She added that her mother's detained friend worked in a car-rental office near Malaga airport. Spanish Security Authorities believe that although the suspects had not been preparing any imminent attacks in Spain, they were prepared to "help the terrorists and harbor them if they were to travel to Spain." Sources from the Spanish Interior Ministry told Asharq Al Awsat that the detained suspects transferred money to bank accounts in Algeria of relatives of members of the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. The sources added that the suspects were involved in petty crimes such as forging documents and credit cards, drug dealing, and car theft.

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