'Al-Qaeda ordered attacks'
2005-07-11 13:09
Madrid - The Islamist extremist group, al-Qaeda, ordered attacks on Europe in a May 29 internet message that the Spanish secret service forwarded to their British counterparts at the weekend, reported a Spanish newspaper on Monday.
The Spanish national intelligence centre sent a copy of the Arabic-language message - signed by "Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades - European division" - on Saturday to the British intelligence service MI5, and it was also published on Saturday by the daily El Mundo.
The message, entitled "Letter to Mujahedeen in Europe", stated in part: "We now call on the mujahedeen around the world to launch the expected attack".
El Mundo wrote that Spanish intelligence officials believed this was a reference to the attacks in London last Thursday.
Madrid train bombings
The group was the second al-Qaeda affiliate to claim responsibility for the London bombings, which killed at least 49 people and wounded about 700.
The same group claimed responsibility for the March 11 2004 Madrid train bombings in which 191 people died, and twin bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 that killed 63 people.
The newspaper reported that the Spanish secret service had been examining the statements of the European division of Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, named after an al-Qaeda leader who was killed in Afghanistan, since the Madrid bombings.
- AFP