Skip to main content

Spain holds 10 for suspected jihadist recruitment

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police are holding 10 people including a former Guantanamo Bay detainee for allegedly recruiting jihadi militants to fight abroad, mainly in Iraq and Syria.

The National Court said Tuesday they would appear before a judge soon.

An Interior Ministry statement said eight of the suspects were Moroccans or men born in Morocco. An Argentine and a Bulgarian were also detained in Monday’s raids.

The ministry identified one of those arrested, Moroccan Lahcen Ikassrien, as the suspected leader of the cell which had sent nine militants to fight for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.

Ikassrien had been arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 and held at Guantanamo Bay. He was extradited to Spain in 2005, but was acquitted for lack of evidence a year later.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Hail to the chief: Take our presidential trivia quiz

EDITOR'S NOTE: WTOP first brought you this quiz in 2019. Presidents Day is coming. How well do you know the less-important facts about the nation's leaders? Take WTOP's quiz — with any luck, it won't take you all Presidents Day to finish it.
Read Next Story