MADRID, Spain (AP) - Europe's biggest terrorist threat is Morocco - seething with as many as 1,000 al-Qaida adherents capable of suicide attacks and skilled at slipping through the continent's southern gateway, Spain's leading anti-terrorism judge testified Thursday.
| Only a thousand? Somebody dropped a zero or two. |
The impoverished kingdom just a short ferry ride across the Strait of Gibraltar has about 100 al-Qaida-linked cells that raise money by dealing hashish, fencing luxury cars and smuggling people into Spain, Judge Baltasar Garzon told lawmakers investigating the Madrid train bombings. Most of the 17 suspects jailed in the March 11 bombings, which killed 190 people, are Moroccan. "They use every means and mechanism, and their activity can even be initially perceived as ordinary delinquency," Garzon said of the cells. "In my opinion it is the gravest problem Europe faces today with this kind of terrorism."
| "What do we have behind door #1 for our winner, Vanna?" |
Garzon said his figures came from police and intelligence data. Officials at the Moroccan Embassy could not be reached to respond to Garzon's allegations. Morocco, too, has done its share of finger-pointing at Spain since the train bombings, but both countries have pledged to work more closely against terrorism. Garzon said his first reaction to the train bombings was that al-Qaida was responsible, not Basque separatists as initially claimed by the government. He cited the scale of the carnage and the level of coordination - 10 nearly simultaneous blasts from backpacks full of dynamite and shrapnel. "The spectacle was absolutely horrifying," Garzon said. "It is probably the most shocking thing I have ever seen and I hope it is the last."
| Ditto, but I'm afraid it won't be. |
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