ID

70423

Etiquetas

PTER, PREL, IZ, SP

Fecha

2006-07-06 10:34:00

RefID

06MADRID1722

Origen

Embassy Madrid

Clasificación

SECRET

Destino

05MADRID3260

06STATE35709

Encabezado

VZCZCXRO0317

PP RUEHAG

DE RUEHMD #1722/01 1871034

ZNY SSSSS ZZH

P 061034Z JUL 06

FM AMEMBASSY MADRID

TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0189

INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 3890

RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 0240

RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0077

RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0070

RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 0318

RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 5956

RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI PRIORITY

RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 0517

Contenido

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001722

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

S/CT FOR WORMAN/HAWTHORNE AND MARC NORMAN

NEA/I FOR OLSEN/EVANS

EB/ESC/TFS FOR SALOOM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2016

TAGS: PTER, PREL, IZ, SP

SUBJECT: SPAIN/IRAQ: TRANSIT OF FOREIGN FIGHTERS TO IRAQ

REF: A. STATE 35709

B. TD-314/07538-06

C. TD-314/42504-06

D. TD-314/45908-06

E. TD-314/08372-06

F. 2005 MADRID 3260

MADRID 00001722 001.2 OF 002

Classified By: POLOFF RICARDO ZUNIGA; REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)

1. (S) Summary. Beginning in early 2005, Spanish authorities

discovered the existence of a significant Spain-based network

to recruit, indoctrinate, and send Islamist radicals to Iraq

to fight against coalition forces. Press reports indicate

that as many as 80 individuals have been recruited in or

passed through Spain on their way to fight in Iraq. Spanish

police have carried out three major operations against

terrorist cells organized to facilitate the movement of

suicide bombers and other fighters. Most recruits are of

North African origin and several have been connected to

terrorist activity in Spain, most notably involvement with

the March 2004 Madrid train bombings. Fighters moving

through Spain on their way to Iraq are generally careful to

cover their tracks, traveling first to another European

country (often Belgium) before moving on to Turkey, then

Syria. Spanish authorities appear committed to tracking and

disrupting Iraq facilitation networks, particularly since

they believe seasoned terrorist veterans may return from Iraq

with a desire to carry out terrorist actions in Spain. End

Summary.

//FOREIGN FIGHTERS TO IRAQ - THE SPAIN CONNECTION//

2. (S) In January 2006, Spanish authorities completed a study

of the route used by Spain-based Islamist extremist groups to

funnel foreign fighters to Iraq (REF B). According to this

report, most foreign fighters passing through Spain traveled

to Belgium, often leaving by air from Barcelona with a set of

false documents. The subjects would then acquire a second

set of false documents and then fly to Turkey, where they

would receive final instructions as to how to proceed Syria

and then to Iraq. The extremists were believed to follow the

same process in reverse to return to Spain, though sometimes

they would return through Greece rather than Turkey.

According to information collected by Spanish authorities,

individuals committed to undertake suicide attacks were given

preferential treatment by the facilitation networks.

3. (C) With its enclaves on the North African coast and

direct ferry connections to Algeria and Morocco, Spain has

long served as a waypoint for North African Islamist

extremists headed to older immigrant centers in France,

Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Another factor making

Spain attractive to extremist facilitators is its thriving

market in false documentation, a critical element for

fighters bound for Syria and on to Iraq. Extremists groups

working in Spain's growing Islamic immigrant communities are

also known to generate revenues through selling false

documents, drug trafficking, and fraud -- as well through

donations at radical mosques -- as a means of financing the

travel of fighters to Iraq. According to press reporting, at

least one group, the Maghreb Liberation Party (Hizb ut

Tahrir) has posted flyers in Spanish mosques calling for

Islamist fighters to go to Iraq. Unnamed police sources also

report that several owners of halal food stores and

call-centers are suspected of providing funds to support the

travel of fighters to Iraq.

4. (S) Extremists can take advantage of the massive influx of

new immigrants from North Africa, both to hide the movement

of radicals among the larger flow of economic migrants and to

serve as a recruiting pool. Young, alienated males with a

history of criminal activity are a particular source of

concern for Spanish authorities, but police are concerned

about the growth of radical movements in the broader Muslim

community. Police monitoring Salafist groups in the Catalan

region reported that a late April meeting called by the most

radical Salafist leaders drew over 500 participants (REF C).

Meeting organizers are alleged to have quietly supported holy

war against the West, while taking measures to avoid radical

discourse during the public sessions of the event.

MADRID 00001722 002.2 OF 002

5. (S) As noted above, the majority of suspected extremists

are of North African origin, with the majority of these

coming from Morocco. For example, of the 21 suspected

extremists arrested by Spanish police during the December

2005 sweep of an Iraq facilitator cell in eastern Spain, 13

were Moroccan nationals (others in this group included a

Spaniard, an Egyptian, a Saudi, a Ghanaian, and an

Iraqi-origin UK national) (REF D). Of the confirmed cases of

Spain-based radicals carrying out attacks in Iraq, nearly all

have been Moroccan or Algerian nationals. Several Algerian

and Moroccan suspects in the 2004 Madrid train bombings have

subsequently been found to be either volunteers to go to Iraq

or involved in facilitating the travel of terrorists to Iraq.

Muhammed Afalah, a Moroccan immigrant who worked for Madrid

train bombing suspect Allekema Lamari, reportedly carried out

a suicide attack in Iraq in May 2005.

//SPANISH AUTHORITIES DISRUPT FACILITATOR NETWORKS//

6. (S) Since June 2005, police have broken up three terrorist

cells that were sending fighters to Iraq, including a group

in the Barcelona area that was working with Ansar-al-Islam

and a separate group in southern and eastern Spain that

included three imams from Malaga and Ceuta. Spanish

authorities worked with Syrian and Algerian counterparts to

demonstrate conclusively that Algerian national Belgacim

Bellil, who had lived and worked in Spain, was the

perpetrator of a November 12, 2003 suicide bombing against

Italian forces in Nasirya, an attack that killed 9 Iraqis and

19 Italians. In January 2006, Spanish police arrested

Mohammed Mrabet, the owner of a halal butcher shop near

Barcelona, on charges of having recruited Bellil to go to

Iraq. On the same day, police arrested Moroccan immigrant

Fatima Hssisni on charges of having aided the recruitment of

several fighters to go to Iraq (REF E), including her brother

Ahmed Hssisni and her relative Hussein Hssisni. Hussein

Hssisni reportedly succeeded in carrying out a suicide attack

in late 2003 or early 2004, while Ahmed was deported from

Syria before he could enter Iraq. Despite these operations,

it is likely that numerous extremist recruitment and

facilitation networks remain active in Spain.

//COMMENT//

7. (S) Spanish authorities appear to understand the risks

posed by Iraq extremist facilitator networks. They fully

expect fighters to return from Iraq to take up terrorist

activity in EU countries, including Spain. As a result,

Spanish police have been aggressive in investigating and

disrupting such terrorist networks. They have shared

information on these investigations with us through law

enforcement and intelligence channels and have reportedly

expanded information sharing with Morocco, Libya, and other

countries as well. It would be useful to underscore to

Spanish authorities the importance we place on this issue by

sharing with them as much information as possible regarding

European and North African networks sending fighters to Iraq.

Such information may help Spanish authorities understand

where Spain fits in the broader picture, and perhaps assist

their targeting of recruitment and facilitation networks.

AGUIRRE;"