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11 arrested in police anti-Jihad operation in Catalonia

Xinhua, April 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Spanish security forces on Wednesday detained 11 suspended jihadists on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization in a coordinated operation in the region of Catalonia.

The operation has brought the total number of people arrested in Spain for their supposed relationship with jihadist organizations in 2015 to 31.

The operation, which was carried out by special squads of the Catalan police (Mossos d'Escuadra), took place in Barcelona and the nearby towns of Terrassa, Sabadell, Sant Quirze de Valles and Valls, which is close to Tarragona.

About 360 officers participated in the operation, which has not yet been closed, and there is the possibility of further arrests in the future.

It has been confirmed to the Spanish press that the operation was directed against a network dedicated to recruiting jihadist fighters for the conflict in Iraq and Syria and is linked to the arrests of three residents of Terrassa, Sabadell and Monistrol de Montserrat in Bulgaria in December 2014.

The trio were detained as they were supposedly on their way to join the Islamic State.

This operation comes just nine days after a family of four (two adults and two 16-year-old twins) were arrested in the town of Badalona, just outside of Barcelona as the twins were on the verge of setting off to join the Islamic State. Endit