It looks as if the Easter threats to Spain may have not been removed by the suicides of the Madrid bombing ringleaders. Note also that the video refers to jihad in the context of “the expulsion from Al Andalus.” To radical Muslims, Spain is as much part of the dar al-Islam, the House of Islam, as Israel “” and jihad must be waged against the present occupiers of both to win them back. The Spanish appeasers may have signed the ticket for the re-Islamization of Spain.
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish police have found a video in the rubble of a building blown up by suspected Islamic militants last weekend in which armed Arabs threaten war unless Spain withdraws troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mainly Roman Catholic Spain is on high alert as it goes into the long Easter holiday weekend after the suspected al Qaeda-linked Madrid train bombings on March 11 that killed 191 people and a thwarted bombing of a railway line on Friday.
“We’re not resting easy. There could be another (attack),” said an Interior Ministry official on Thursday, who declined to be named.
Police and troops have been deployed to guard dams, power plants, high-speed rail lines and other possible targets.
The video may have been recorded by the three masked Arabs before the blast, triggered by the suspected Islamic militants as police raided the Madrid apartment building, officials said. The tape was damaged in the explosion.
“You know about Spain’s crusade against Muslims, the expulsion from Al Andalus and the tribunals of the Inquisition, not that long ago,” the men said in a message, vowing a “jihad” or holy war.
The interior ministry released a transcript in Spanish.
Much of modern Spain was known as Al Andalus when it was ruled by the Moors until their defeat and expulsion in 1492. Spain now has a Moroccan community of around half a million.
SOME SUSPECTS STILL BEING HUNTED
Nearly a month after the Madrid train bombings, several suspects are still unaccounted for.
Police are holding 19 people, most of them Moroccans, in connection with the bombings.
The government says they, and seven men who blew themselves up in Saturday’s police raid, account for most of those it wants over the March 11 attacks.
Police are investigating a letter faxed to a newspaper on Saturday, purportedly from Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda, threatening more attacks unless Spain withdraws its 1,300 troops from Iraq and a smaller contingent in Afghanistan.
Easter is marked by huge public processions in Spain, adding to security fears.
The U.S. embassy has warned Americans to be vigilant when travelling by train and using other public transport in Spain.
Security has been stepped up on Spain’s borders, especially in Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish territories on the North African coast.
One of the suspects in custody was arrested at the Ceuta-Morocco border crossing on Friday.
Sources close to the anti-terror investigation have said Islamic militants may have been planning a series of Easter attacks.
El Pais newspaper said Madrid hotels expected Easter occupancy to be down 20 percent as a result of security fears.