Alarm in Spain over al-Qaeda call for its "reconquest" By Sinikka Tarvainen

dpa German Press Agency Published: Thursday April 12, 2007

Madrid- The emergence of a new al-Qaeda-linked organization
in Northern Africa is alarming Spain, which is concerned about
Islamists' calls for the reconquest of the country they regard as a
lost part of the Muslim world.
"We will not be in peace until we set our foot again in our
beloved al-Andalus," al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said on claiming
responsibility for an attack which killed at least 24 people in
Algiers on Wednesday.

Al-Andalus is the Moorish name for Spain, parts of which were
ruled by Muslims for about eight centuries until the last Moorish
bastion, Granada, succumbed to the Christian Reconquest in 1492.

The terrorists will undoubtedly attempt to extend their offensive
from Northern Africa to European soil, anti-terrorism judge Baltasar
Garzon warned, cautioning that Spain was at a "very high risk" of
suffering an Islamist attack.

The reference to al-Andalus was not the first by al-Qaeda, which
has also vowed to put an end to the Spanish "occupation" of the
enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the Moroccan coast.

Such announcements worry the security services in Spain, where 29
mainly Moroccan suspects are on trial for the 2004 Madrid train
bombings that killed 191 and injured about 1,800 people.

The bombings were mainly a reaction to the war alliance of Spain's
former conservative government with the United States in Iraq, but
some of the terrorists are also known to have dreamed of reconquering
al-Andalus.

The bloodbath in Algiers could launch a new string of attacks in
Northern Africa and Europe, including Spain, terrorism expert
Fernando Reinares warned.

Al-Qaeda is extending its activities in Northern Africa, where the
Algiers bombings were preceded by the suicides of three Moroccan
Islamists who blew themselves up to avoid being captured by police on
Tuesday.

The Algerian-based al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly known
as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), intends to
federate North African Islamist cells under a common umbrella.

Some of the people who could attack Spain may already be in the
country, where nearly 80 per cent of prison inmates jailed on charges
related to international terrorism have come from Northern Africa
over the past five years.

Islamist radicals proselytize at an estimated 10 per cent of
Spain's hundreds of unofficial mosques, which operate in garages,
basements and the like.

Spain has become an important base for the recruitment of suicide
bombers who are sent to Iraq, according to press reports. Some of the
fighters are believed to be trained in new al-Qaeda camps in Sahel
countries such as Mali, Niger or Mauritania.

The Madrid train bombings appear to have been organized by a home-
grown Islamist cell with the backing of the Moroccan Islamic
Combatant Group (GICM).

Ceuta and Melilla, which have sizeable Muslim populations, could
well be the next targets, judge Garzon warned.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

Comment Here