British Islamic extremists linked to Madrid atrocity
Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has said there is a “definite link” between the perpetrators of the Madrid rail bombings and al Qaeda fellow travellers in the UK.
Security services are probing whether UK-based Islamic extremists funded and supported one of the chief suspects linked to the Madrid atrocity.
Last Thursday, a series of bombs exploded in Madrid killing 201 and injuring more than 1500.
Sir John told The Independent newspaper: “We believe there is a London link with what happened in Madrid.”
To date, over 500 people have been arrested in the UK on terror charges, half of whom have been charged.
Sir John this week said it was “inevitable” that al Qaeda terrorists would try to launch a terror attack in London.
Moroccan-born Jamal Zougam, a chief suspect in the Spain bombings, is thought to have visited London on a funding mission.
The so-called “Angel of Death” and four other men were arrested at the weekend in connection with the mobile phone found in a rucksack packed with explosives on one of the Madrid trains.
His home in Spain was searched three years ago after a probe into radical Islamists in France.
At that time, it was shown Mr Zougam was in possession of the mobile phone number of Imad Eddim Barakat Yarkas, a leader of al Qaeda in Spain.
