VZCZCXRO5097 
RR RUEHLA 
DE RUEHMD #1306/01 3471725 
ZNR UUUUU ZZH 
R 121725Z DEC 08 
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID 
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5764 
INFO RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 3705 
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001306 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO S/CT'S RHONDA SHORE, TO RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON 
DC AND TO EUR/WE'S ELAINE SAMSON AND STACIE ZARDECKI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER SP ASEC EFIN KCRM KHLS AEMR
SUBJECT: SPAIN: 2008 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM 
 
REF: STATE 120019 
 
¶1. (U) As requested in REFTEL A, Post's submission for the 
"2008 Country Report on Terrorism" follows in paragraph 2. 
POC for the CRT in Spain is Hugh Clifton. Telephone 
34-91-587-2294, email: CliftonLH@state.gov. 
 
¶2. (U) 
 
The Government of Spain and its citizens were concerned that 
their country has been and remained a principal target of 
Islamic extremism as well as domestic terrorism. On the 
international front, al-Qa'ida deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and 
the leaders of al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) 
routinely called for the recapture of the former 
Muslim-controlled region in the Iberian Peninsula they still 
call "al-Andalus." As the fifth anniversary of the March 11, 
2004 Madrid train bombings approaches, the Spanish government 
remained in a constant state of heightened alert and took 
pride in the fact that there have been further deaths in 
Spain at the hands of jihadists since 2004. Spain cooperated 
closely with the United States to investigate and prosecute 
acts of terrorism and to prevent future attacks, and worked 
hard to disrupt terrorist acts that possibly were directed 
against U.S. interests. 
 
Spain remained an important transit and logistical base for 
terrorist organizations operating in Western Europe. Its 
geographical location, large population of immigrants from 
North Africa, and the ease of travel to other countries in 
Europe, made Spain a strategic crossroads for international 
terrorist groups. The Spanish government feared that 
experienced terrorists may make their way back to Spain in a 
reverse terrorist pipeline; however, as of December 2008, the 
number of returnees was unknown. 
 
Spain continued to aggressively target terrorist recruiters 
and facilitators. As of late October, 65 suspected Islamist 
terrorists had been detained, according to the Ministry of 
Interior. Many of these individuals were believed to be 
supporters of terrorist groups such as AQ, AQIM, and the 
Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (GICM). 
 
The Spanish government began 2008 with the January 19 arrest 
of 14 suspected radical Islamists - primarily Pakistanis - in 
Barcelona who allegedly were plotting to attack the city's 
transportation system. The Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan 
terrorist group, which has links to al Qa'ida, claimed that 
those arrested were part of its organization and that the 
attacks had been planned to retaliate against the Spanish 
military presence in Afghanistan. In June, Spanish police 
arrested eight Algerian nationals on charges of suspicious 
activities with links to jihadist cells, including recruiting 
and indoctrination, as well as providing financial and 
logistical support to Islamic terrorist organizations. In 
October, security services arrested a dozen radical Islamist 
suspects, all Moroccan nationals, accused of financing 
terrorism and of sending recruits to Iraq. Some members of 
the cell were also accused of helping some of the suspects in 
the Madrid train bombings flee the country. All were 
subsequently set free, except for four individuals already in 
prison on other charges. 
 
The domestic terrorist group Basque Fatherland and Liberty 
(ETA), whose aim is to create an independent Basque state, 
waged its deadliest year yet against the Zapatero 
administration, in office since 2004. ETA's attacks 
throughout the year claimed four lives and wounded dozens of 
others. On March 7, on the eve of Spain's national election, 
ETA gunmen murdered a former town councilman in Mondragon. 
On May 14, an ETA truckbomb detonated at a barracks in 
Legutiano killed a Civil Guard. On September 22, a carbomb 
detonated at a military academy in Santona, killing a 
corporal in the Spanish army. The fourth victim, a Basque 
businessman, was shot by ETA gunmen on December 3. 
Nevertheless, Spain's intensified cooperation with the French 
government put considerable pressure on ETA. Joint 
operations in France resulted in - among other successes - 
the detention of ETA's alleged political leader in May and 
its alleged military chief, who reportedly was also the 
number-one authority in ETA, in November. A joint operation 
on December 9 resulted in the arrest of the alleged 
replacement military chief. All three arrests occurred in 
France with the participation of Spanish security forces. As 
of mid December, security services had arrested 158 alleged 
ETA members or associates, including 33 in France. 
 
In the judicial arena, the Spanish Supreme Court in 2008 
overturned the convictions of several radical Islamists from 
two previous, high-profile cases. In July the Spanish 
Supreme Court announced the acquittal on appeal of four of 
the 21 convicted defendants in the Madrid train bombings 
trial who had been sentenced in October 2007. The four had 
been sentenced to between 5 and 12 years for smuggling 
explosives and membership in a terrorist organization. The 
Supreme Court also upheld the lower court's acquittal of the 
suspected mastermind of the attacks, agreeing with the lower 
court's decision that he be acquitted of belonging to a 
terrorist organization because he had already been sentenced 
in Italy and could not be tried for the same crime twice. In 
October, the Supreme Court overturned 14 of the 20 
convictions of a cell sentenced in February 2008 for plotting 
to truckbomb the National Court. The Supreme Court also 
reduced the sentences of another four of those convicted in 
the plot. 
 
Spain participated in the Megaports and Container Security 
Initiatives, and worked hard to deny terrorists access to 
Spanish financial institutions. Spain maintained a robust 
law enforcement and intelligence posture against terrorist 
finance. Spain was a member of the G8's Counterterrorism 
Action Group and provided technical assistance to other 
countries to help build their institutions to counter 
terrorist finance. Spain is a longtime member of the 
intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force and its efforts 
to combat money laundering are considered comprehensive and 
effective, although Spain has not designated Imad Eddin 
Barakat Yarkas, the leader of the Madrid-based 
al-Qa'ida-affiliated cell detained shortly after 9/11. 
Throughout 2008, Spain had a very active role in the Global 
Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. Spain hosted a 
table-top exercise in May, a plenary meeting in June, and a 
field training exercise in October. This series of events 
developed Spain's own expertise in disaster preparedness and 
contingency planning and served to build the capacity of 
fellow Global Initiative partner nations. 
 
Spain also signed numerous multilateral agreements to 
strengthen counterterrorism cooperation on a political level. 
For example, in May, the Ministers of Interior from Spain, 
France, Portugal, Italy, Malta, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, 
Mauritania and Tunisia, agreed to strengthen their exchange 
of information to prevent anybody accused of a terrorist 
crime from finding shelter in those countries. 
 
On a bilateral level, Spain signed agreements with Morocco 
and Algeria. Spanish and Moroccan General Prosecutors 
Offices in June signed an International Protocol of 
Cooperation to fight terrorism and organized crime. Also in 
June, Spain and Algeria signed a bilateral Agreement on 
Security to Fight Terrorism, Illegal Immigration, and 
Organized Crime, which includes the exchange of information. 
Spain contributed more than 750 troops to the International 
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. 
 
 
AGUIRRE