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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000611 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PGOV SP
SUBJECT: MADRID TRAIN BOMBING INVESTIGATION NEARING 
COMPLETION 
 
 
¶1. Examining Judge Juan del Olmo is nearing the close of his 
23-month investigation of the March 11, 2004 Madrid train 
bombings, as the second anniversary of the attacks 
approaches.  He recently issued orders to extend the 
pre-trial detention of nine key suspects being held in 
connection with the attacks and is expected to issue a formal 
indictment against 30-40 suspects in late March or early 
April. 
 
//PRESSURE TO WRAP UP THE CASE// 
 
¶2. On the eve of the second anniversary of the Madrid 
terrorist attacks that killed 191 people, Judge del Olmo has 
come under intense pressure to conclude his investigation and 
advance to the next phase in the case: presentation of 
charges to the trial court.  By any measure, this has been a 
massive investigation, involving 116 potential defendants, 96 
defense attorneys, 23 prosecutors, 80,000 pieces of evidence, 
200 DNA tests, 40 protected witnesses, and legal assistance 
requests to the U.S., Italy, France, Algeria, Morocco, the 
UK, Belgium, Serbia, and Libya.  Even with the volume of 
evidence, the suicide of seven key plotters and the inability 
to identify and capture five other suspects has prevented a 
full understanding of how the attacks were organized and by 
whom.  Nevertheless, Spanish legal officials fear that 
waiting much longer for the investigation to settle these 
issues will make it difficult to conclude the trial in time 
to prevent the defendants from gaining release on technical 
grounds.  (NOTE: The maximum period of pre-trial detention is 
four years and defendants are entitled to be released after 
completing half of their sentences if their convictions have 
not been confirmed by the Supreme Court.  This is precisely 
what has happened in the case of several al-Qaida members 
convicted in September 2005.  END NOTE). 
 
¶3. Pre-trial secrecy rules continue to apply, but central 
elements of del Olmo's case were made clear in his 
instruction to continue holding key suspects in preventive 
detention as well as in leaks to the media regarding del 
Olmo's investigation.  For example: 
 
-- The nine subjects being held in extended pre-trial 
detention are: Jamal Zougam, Emilio Suarez Trashorras 
(Spanish national who provided the explosives), Basel 
Ghalyoun, Rafa Zouhier, Rachid Aglif, Otman el Gnaoui, Hamid 
Ahmidan, Fouad el Morabit, and Abdelilah el Fadoual el Akil. 
These are the central actors in the bombing plot who are 
currently under detention. 
 
-- In the extended detention order, Judge del Olmo identifies 
the Madrid train bombers as part of a network of extremists 
with a presence in France, Belgium, Italy, Morocco, and Iraq. 
 The indictment is expected to point to the seven extremists 
who blew themselves up in the Madrid suburb of Leganes on 
April 3, 2004 (killing a police officer) as the central 
actors in the plot, along with five as yet unidentified 
conspirators and Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (GICM) figures 
Youssef Belhadj and Hassan el Haski.  El Haski was imprisoned 
in Spain pending trial after being captured in the Canary 
Islands in late 2004. 
 
-- Del Olmo will describes the bomb plotters as a Salafist 
organization "connected to terrorist organizations such as 
the GICM to facilitate the movement and cover, and to provide 
protection to presumed members of terrorist groups, providing 
the necessary cover through the supply of false documentation 
and funds to flee Spanish territory...as occured with several 
suspects who fled to France and Belgium before disappearing." 
 Del Olmo, working with Belgian judge Daniel Fransen, 
identified Belgium as the base of a terrorist network 
dedicated to funneling Moroccan recruits to terrorist 
training camps and returning them to Europe, including to 
Spain.  His report will reportedly assert that Youssef 
Belhadj (AKA Abu Dojanah al Afghani) was the person who 
claimed the March 11 attacks as the "spokesman of al-Qaida in 
Europe" and that Belhadj was connected to the terrorist 
attacks in Casablanca and the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo 
van Gogh. 
 
-- Citing Belgian Judge Fransen, the Spanish daily "El Pais" 
indicates that GICM El Haski's movements have been traced to 
Spain, Belgium, France and Morocco and a prisoner in France, 
Attilla Turk, reportedly identified him as the key external 
 
MADRID 00000611  002 OF 002 
 
 
organizer of the Madrid train attacks.  However, as earlier 
reports indicated, most of the planning and organization of 
the attacks took place within Spain.  El Haski was reportedly 
vying for control of the GICM at the time that the Madrid 
attacks were being planned 
 
-- According to press reporting, fingerprint data will 
provide the most important evidence of who was involved in 
the plot and how it was organized.  The most important source 
of fingerprint and DNA data was the Madrid apartment in which 
suspects Allekema Lamari, Jamal Ahmidan, Rachid Oula Akcha, 
Serhane Ben Abdelmajid, Rifaat Anour Asrih, Mohamed Oulad 
Akcha, and Abdennabi Kounja detonated explosives to avoid 
capture by Spanish police.  Unfortunately, the single 
unexploded device retrieved from the wreckage of the trains 
did not provide any usable fingerprint data, but did provide 
the GSM card that led to Jamal Zougam, one of the key 
surviving suspects. 
 
¶4. Judge del Olmo is believed to have collected sufficient 
evidence to file terrorism charges against approximately 
one-third of the 116 defendants named in the case.  There are 
25 individuals jailed in connection with the case (including 
Rabei Osman el Sayed, being held in Italy but made available 
to del Olmo) while an additional 42 subjects were released on 
bail and are required to report periodically to local 
authorities.  There are a total of eight pending arrest 
warrants for suspects who have not been identified or 
captured.  It is uncertain when the trial itself will 
commence, but early indications are that it will initiate 
near the end of 2006. 
AGUIRRE