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Alleged terror cell leader heldBy CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman  Omar Nakhcha was arrested in the northeastern town of Santa Coloma de Gramanet. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSMADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Police in Spain on Thursday arrested the suspected leader of two alleged Islamic terrorist cells broken up earlier this week in Spain, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The suspect, Omar Nakhcha, a 23-year-old Moroccan, led the two cells, which recruited so-called "holy warriors" to fight in the Iraqi insurgency, the statement said. Twenty suspects from those cells were arrested on Tuesday in Spain, it said. Nakhcha's cells also had helped three key suspects in the Madrid train bombings of 2004 to escape Spain shortly after those attacks, the statement said. Police detained Nakhcha Thursday while he was walking on a street in the town of Santa Coloma de Gramanet, near Barcelona. One of the cells disrupted Tuesday was based nearby in the town of Vilanova y la Geltru, also near Barcelona. Police had detected Nakhcha's presence in Spain recently, and the arrest should help investigators fill in the gaps on other anti-terrorist operations, in which Nakhcha allegedly played "an important role," the statement said. The 20 suspects arrested Tuesday, who are still awaiting arraignment, formed two cells, one based in Vilanova y la Geltru that recruited and sent would-be suicide bombers to Iraq, and another based in Madrid that sent so-called "holy warriors" to fight in the insurgency in Iraq, Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said Tuesday. The cell near Barcelona allegedly was in charge of recruiting and sending an Algerian man to carry out a suicide bombing at Nasiriya, Iraq on Nov. 12, 2003. That attack killed 19 Italians -- including 12 military police, five troops and two civilians -- and nine Iraqis, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday. In addition to those activities, Nakhcha's group also helped two Madrid train bombing suspects escape Spain after those March 11, 2004 attacks that killed 191 people: Mohamed Afalah, a Moroccan who is presumed dead after apparently carrying out a suicide attack in Iraq in May 2005; and Mohamed Belhadj, a Moroccan who is still a fugitive, the statement said. The statement added that Nakhcha's group "probably" also helped another train bombing suspect to escape at the same time: Daoud Ouhnane, an Algerian. Spanish media reports say Ouhnane's fingerprints allegedly were found in train bombing evidence recovered. Nakhcha was identified as a cell leader by another terrorist suspect arrested in Spain last June, Larbi Ben Sellam, who told investigators that Nakhcha had worked from Belgium to organize escapes for the train bombing suspects, the statement said. Police arrested two other people with Nakhcha on Thursday, but authorities had not completed identification of them and it's possible they are not suspects and just happened to be with Nakhcha at the time of his arrest, an Interior Ministry spokesman told CNN. Police also searched four locales on Thursday after arresting Nakhcha, the statement said. Nakhcha is linked to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which authorities say had a key role in the Madrid train bombings. Nakhcha also had oversight of would-be suicide bombers or fighters to be sent from Spain to join the insurgency in Iraq, as well as the those who left Iraq to return to Europe to join terrorist cells in various nations, the statement said. The 20 suspects arrested Tuesday included 16 Moroccans, three Spaniards, a Turk and an Algerian, said Alonso, the Interior Minister. The Algerian is the suspected leader of the Madrid cell and he earlier received terrorist training in Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. "They were in an organization dedicated to international terrorism and linked to al Qaeda," Alonso said Tuesday. Investigators think a Moroccan man possibly recruited by one of the Spanish cells fought in Iraq for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born head of al Qaeda in Iraq. The Moroccan was subsequently detained in Syria and sent back to Morocco, Alonso said. He said some of the suspects also allegedly provided financing, forged documents and other logistical support to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group and also to the Algerian-based Salafist Group for Call and Combat. The Spanish cells also had links to terrorists in France, Belgium, Holland, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, Alonso said. Police arrested 16 of the suspects near Barcelona in the town of Vilanova y la Geltru, Alonso said, the location of one of the suspected terrorist cells. The other suspected cell was based in Madrid, where police made three arrests. The final suspect was detained in the town of Lasarte, in Spain's northern Basque region. The Madrid cell, Alonso said, not only recruited so-called "holy warriors" to be sent to Iraq, but also facilitated the transit of suspected terrorists from North Africa through Spain to Iraq, and back. Police searched 30 homes and locales after the arrests. They found no immediate evidence that the suspects were planning an "imminent attack" in Spain, Alonso said. But Alonso added that investigators "can't rule out that they could have carried out attacks in Europe or in Spain," because the cells disrupted Tuesday had a "higher level" of preparation than other suspected terrorist cells disrupted in Spain in recent months. Last month, police arrested 18 suspected Islamic terrorists -- also on suspicion of recruiting "holy warriors" to fight against Western forces in Iraq. A judge later filed preliminary charges against all of them but ordered only six of the 18 to remain in jail. 
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