A Spanish judge jailed six Algerians on charges of being members of an armed group allegedly financed by Osama Bin Laden, the prime suspect in the terrorist attacks in the United States, court officials said. Teresa Palacios, an investigative magistrate at the national court, ordered the six to prison on Friday without bail after interrogating them one by one behind closed doors, the officials said on condition of anonymity. None of the six were quizzed about Bin Laden, the officials said. Authorities have not linked them to the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.
Palacios accused the six of being members of the Salafist group for call and combat, a Bin Laden-backed dissident faction of the armed Islamic group, Algeria's most hard-line insurgency movement. At least one of the six denied having anything to do with the group during Friday’s question, the court officials said.
News reports said all six were from the Cabilia area in Algeria, where the faction was formed in 1998. Spanish Police arrested the six on Wednesday in cities around Spain. The interior ministry says they had been under surveillance for some time and that it acted after learning that a Tunisian arrested September 13 in Belgium with bomb-making material and documents, which suggested he was planning a suicide attack against US interests in Europe, had met with the Algerians in Spain.
Bureau Report