Spanish police detain 3 suspected extremists in Madrid

Spanish police on Tuesday morning arrested three people thought to be planning attacks in the name of the Islamic State (Daesh) here.

The operation was coordinated by the High Court Public Prosecutor and carried out by the National Police force in the districts of Canada Real and Vallecas in the south of the capital.

The three men arrested in the early hours of the morning were all Moroccan nationals resident in Spain for several years.

According to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, they were prepared to carry out "terrorist acts at any time, similar to those which have taken place recently in neighboring countries."

Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said the attacks planned were "of an indiscriminate nature," and pointed out that while recent arrests had been of people who formed part of recruitment networks to send people to join Daesh in Syria or Iraq, where were looking to act in Spain.

"This is a major step upwards and very different," said Diaz, who said those arrested could have committed acts "which ranged from stabbing someone with a knife to going out with a Kalashnikov."

The minister said Spain is on an alert level of four out of five for the threat of a terrorist attacks, which means "high-risk."

He added Tuesday's arrests means that during the current legislature 171 arrests have been made of suspected extremists.

A total of 60 of those arrests have been made in Spain this year, while a further 27 people have been arrested in other countries, mainly Morocco, in connection with recruiting for the IS in Spain. Endit