5 more held over Madrid bombings
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MADRID, Spain -- Five more people have been arrested in Spain in connection with the March 11 Madrid train bombings, taking the total number of those detained to 18.
Police sources told the Spanish-language network CNN+ that three were arrested on Wednesday night and another two on Thursday.
Of the people arrested so far, 11 have been charged with offenses related to the attacks. Two others have been detained then released without charge.
A German television station said the three suspects arrested Wednesday had lived in Germany and were "directly involved" in planning the Madrid bombings.
That could not be confirmed with Spanish authorities, however, according to The Associated Press.
The al Qaeda terrorist network, and an alleged Morocco-based cell believed to have links to the group, have been the focus of suspicion in Spain's worst terrorist attack, which killed 190 people and injured more than 1,800 others.
All five of the latest suspects will be questioned on Monday at the national court, sources told AP.
Interior Ministry spokesman Richard Ibanez said those arrested included Moroccans and at least one Syrian national.
The three men who reportedly lived in Germany were known to authorities there as Islamic extremists who might be ready to carry out attacks, German news channel n-tv said, citing unidentified German intelligence sources.
The three had lived legally in Germany for years, n-tv reported.
German federal prosecutors, who have opened an investigation because a German woman was injured in the Madrid attacks, refused to comment on the n-tv report.
Those arrested before Wednesday were 11 Moroccans, two Indians, one Algerian and a Spaniard.
The prime suspect in the bombings is Jamal Zougam, an immigrant from Morocco who is now in jail.
Spanish court documents have linked him to members of an al Qaeda cell in Spain.
Two men who were arrested last weekend -- Moroccans Faisal Ullac and Khalid Oulad Akcha -- are expected to go before Judge Juan del Olmo on Friday for interrogation.
They were among four people arrested last weekend.
The first two of that group, Rafa Zuher and Naima Oulad Akcha, were charged Wednesday night with collaborating with a terrorist group, court officials said. The suspects denied the charges and condemned the March 11 bombings.
Akcha is the first woman to be charged and is a sister of Khalid Oulad Akcha, who had been jailed in a separate case but brought to Madrid under Judge Juan del Olmo's orders.
Five suspects have been charged with mass murder and belonging to a terrorist group and six have been charged with collaboration.
All but the two Indian suspects are being held in solitary confinement without access to lawyers or family.
Except for the Spaniard, all of those charged have denied any involvement in the attacks.
The charges stop short of a formal indictment but suggest that the court has strong evidence against them. The suspects can be jailed up to two years while investigators gather more evidence.
-- CNN's Maria Arbelaez contributed to this report
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
