Spanish police in Madrid.JUAN MEDINA/Reuters
Spanish police have arrested three suspected members of al-Qaeda in the southern province of Cadiz, a judicial source told AFP Thursday.
The source could not provide further details, but Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, citing police, said the suspects were two Chechens and a Turk, who were in possession of explosives and poison when they were arrested.
Police suspect the three men were planning to carry out an attack in Spain, the radio station added.
The Interior Ministry refused to confirm the report but announced that Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz would hold a press conference at 1:00 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET).
Several Islamic extremists have been arrested in recent years in Spain, especially in Catalonia in the northeast, but according to Spanish media this is the first time extremists have been arrested in possession of explosives.
On March 11, 2004, bombs exploded on packed commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people and wounding 1,841 others in a strike by a local cell of Islamic extremists carried out in the name of al-Qaeda.