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Madrid 'bombers' offer truce
18/03/2004 07:19 - (SA)
Cairo, Egypt - The Islamic militant group that claimed responsibility for last week's Madrid train bombings has called a truce with Spain to give the new government time to withdraw troops from Iraq, a London-based Arabic-language newspaper said.
The Al Hayat daily newspaper said Wednesday it received a statement from The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, which earlier said it orchestrated the bombings to punish Spain for supporting the US-led war in Iraq.
The United States believes the group, which takes its name in memory of al-Qaeda's fallen No. 3, lacks credibility and its ties to al-Qaeda are tenuous. In the past, the group has made claims about various events to which they were not connected - such as blackouts last year in the United States, Canada and London.
On Wednesday, Moroccan authorities said that emerging evidence in the Madrid attacks points toward Ansar al-Islam, a guerrilla group blamed for terrorist strikes in Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Morocco.
Some of the other Islamic groups believed to have a link to the bombings are Salafia Jihadia and Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group.
The latest statement by The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, dated March 15, will be published on Thursday in Al Hayat.
An editor at the Saudi-owned paper said the group announced it was stopping all activity on Spanish territory until further notice to gauge the intentions of the new government of prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
'Fiasco'
Zapatero said on Wednesday the incoming government intends to stick by its pledge to withdraw the 1 300 Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30. He also criticised the US-led occupation of Iraq, saying it was "turning into a fiasco".
Outgoing Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a strong supporter of US President George W Bush in the invasion of Iraq, lost the Spanish parliamentary elections on Sunday in the wake of the Madrid train bombings that killed 201 people.
Last week, another Arabic newspaper, Al-Quds al-Arabi, said it received a claim of responsibility issued by the same group in the name of al-Qaeda.
In Madrid, Gustavo de Aristegui, a legislator and parliamentary spokesman for the defeated conservative Popular Party said: "They are not capable of committing these attacks, much less of declaring a truce. "
This group "is, according to anti-terrorism experts, not a very reliable terrorist organisation because they have never really acted in any terrorist act," he said by telephone.
A Moroccan, Jamal Zougam, is emerging as the key suspect in the train bombings. He was arrested two days after the attacks.
Spanish police are interrogating two other Moroccans, including Zougam's half-brother, and two Indian men.
The Spanish daily El Pais reported that police also suspect five other Moroccans, who remain at large, of participating in the bombings.
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