Barcelona subway terror plot foiled

Fourteen men have been arrested in Spain for planning terrorist attacks in Spain, Portugal, France, and Germany. The operation was credited to Pakistani Islamist al-Qaeda warlord Baitullah Mehsud, the man behing Benazir Bhutto's murder.

Via Iberian Notes,

Al Qaeda in Catalonia update: Police throughout Europe are looking for at least six uncaptured members of the Barcelona terrorist cell. The leader of the Barcelona cell, Maroof Ahmed Mirza, is linked to the chief of Al Qaeda in Pakistan, Amir Baitula Mehsud, and to other cells in Europe, which are thought to be hiding the six men on the run. The authorities are currently tracing down all the phone calls made by suspected cell members.

Everything the confidential informant (who was to have been one of the suicide bombers) says checks out, except the cops can't find the 100 kilos of explosives he says they had. Very similar to Saddam's chemical weapons: we know he was going around acting like he had them, we took action based on his bluffs and threats, and then we just couldn't find the weapons.

Get this: El Pais says that the terrorist cell that murdered Daniel Pearl was financed by a Barcelona Pakistani cell that got its money running shops and call centers in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona; the money was transferred to Asia through the hawala money-lending network. They also report that the CIA and FBI believe that jihadists have been using Spain as a logistical and financial center for years.

El Pais has two articles (links in Spanish): Los detenidos tienen idéntico perfil que los autores del 7-J (The detainees have identical profiles to the London July 7 bombers) and La CIA alerta del constante traslado a España de 'yihadistas' desde Pakistán (CIA warns of constant transfer of "jihadists" to Spain from Pakistan).

Ed Morrissey links to Detained extremists planned attack wave

A GROUP of alleged Islamist extremists were planning a wave of suicide attacks across Europe before they were detained in Barcelona last weekend.

The group intended to carry out three attacks in Spain and one each in Portugal, France and Germany, an unnamed man who infiltrated the group told top-selling daily El Pais.

As Ed points out, none of the EU countries are involved with the US in Iraq.



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