Spain raids militant cell ‘led by ex-Guantanamo inmate’

Police have so far launched 12 raids in the Spanish capital, detaining eight people, and investigations remain open.

MADRID // Spanish police arrested eight people in pre-dawn raids in Madrid on Monday against a militant recruitment network led by a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, the government said.
Police have so far launched 12 raids in the Spanish capital, detaining eight people, and the investigation remains open, Spain's interior ministry said in a statement.
The Islamic cell found and dispatched recruits for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants based in Syria and Iraq, the ministry said.
"It should be highlighted that the leader of this cell lived in Spain after passing through the Guantanamo military base, having been arrested in Afghanistan in 2001," the Spanish ministry said, without providing details.
US president Barack Obama's administration is trying to shut down its notorious prison at a US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many detainees are suspected of terror links but the authorities often lack sufficient evidence to try them in court.
Spain's government has said it fears battle-hardened Islamist fighters may return to Spain from Syria and other conflict zones under the influence of Al Qaeda-inspired groups, presenting a threat of attacks.
The latest operation by Spanish security forces is the third significant raid on militant recruitment cells announced in as many months.
On May 30, security forces arrested six suspects in Melilla, one of two Spanish-governed cities along with Ceuta on the northern Morocco coast.
Spain accused the network of recruiting and sending out militants to join "terrorist organisations" based in Mali and Libya.
* Agence France-Presse