3 held in Spain over Madrid bombs

Spanish police arrested three people today suspected of aiding the escape of Islamic militants after the 2004 Madrid train bombings…

Spanish police arrested three people today suspected of aiding the escape of Islamic militants after the 2004 Madrid train bombings, police said.

Police arrested two Moroccans in Madrid and a Spaniard in Algeciras, southern Spain, who is currently serving time for the falsification of documents, police said.

They gave no further details.

Twenty Arab men, mostly Moroccans, and nine Spaniards are on trial in Madrid for involvement in the March 11th, 2004 bombings, which killed 191 people in the most deadly al Qaeda-inspired attacks on European soil.

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Seven other suspects blew themselves up in an apartment block weeks after the bombings, another is believed to have been killed in Iraq, and three more are on the run.

Yesterday, judge Juan del Olmo, who investigated the attacks, identified another Moroccan, Abdelilah Hriz, of being involved after his DNA was found in sites linked to the bombers.

Judge Del Olmo charged Hriz, who is in prison in Morocco, with crimes including "terrorist murder" and will ask for him to be extradited to Spain.