Yes, that headline is absurd. But the absurdity comes from this AFP story. AFP tells us that 11 “South Asians,” ten Pakistanis and one Indian, were charged with plotting terror attacks against Spain. Only their nationality is mentioned, as if that is the only salient point here. So are we to conclude that Pakistan, and possibly also India, are moving to declare war on Spain? Or could it be, just possibly, that these would-be suicide attackers have some other motivation to plot against Spain, one that has nothing to do with their nationality, and which AFP leaves unmentioned?
“South Asians charged in Spain with plotting suicide attacks,” from AFP, June 5 (thanks to Cindy):
MADRID (AFP) – A judge in Spain Thursday filed terrorism charges against 11 South Asians, most of them Pakistanis, suspected of planning suicide attacks in Barcelona and elsewhere in Europe.
Ten of those charged were arrested in Barcelona, northeastern Spain, in January in raids during which police also recovered bomb-making equipment….
All 11 were charged with belonging to a terrorist group.
Eight were additionally accused of possessing explosives, even though explosives seized at the time of the arrests “did not have the capacity to cause major damage,” Moreno said in the indictment, a copy of which was obtained by AFP from judicial sources….
The cell is suspected of planning suicide bombings in the Barcelona metro and other European cities.
After the arrests, Spain’s intelligence services had warned Paris, London and Lisbon of the threat of terrorist attacks linked to a European tour by Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in February that the cell was linked to Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud, suspected by officials in Islamabad of involvement in the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto….
Three of those arrested in Barcelona had been tasked with carrying out suicide bombings, and had recently arrived in the city, while three others were allegedly explosives experts, the judge said.
The indictment identified nine of the 11 as Pakistanis and one as an Indian. The nationality of another man was not mentioned, but Spanish media identified him as Indian.