Spain faced a "very high risk" of suffering another Islamist attack

Six people of Pakistani origin were arrested on suspicion of " fraud" Tuesday in Barcelona, northeastern Spain, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said.Earlier in the day, a source close to the inquiry had said police detained 10 suspected Islamic extremists in raids in Barcelona, Madrid and the Canary Islands in an operation ordered by top antiterrorist judge Baltazar Garzon.Rubalcaba gave no further details as to possible charges, but a judicial source told AFP the six arrested in Barcelona are suspected of financing terrorist activities by carrying out thefts and sending money raised from criminal activities to Pakistan.The six had traveled to Barcelona from different parts of Spain, the source added.Spanish police have carried out several operations against suspected Islamic extremists since the bomb attacks on three packed commuter trains in Madrid on March 11, 2004 which killed 191 people in Europe's worst Islamic-linked terror attack.Islamic extremists claimed responsibility for the attack, which they said they had carried out in the name of al-Qaida in response to the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq at the time.
Police detained 15 suspected Islamic militants, mostly from Pakistan, in January 2008 in Barcelona who the authorities feared were plotting an attack in the city, which has a large population of Pakistani immigrants.Garzon has warned that Spain faced a "very high risk" of suffering another Islamist attack

Posted in: northeastern Spain,Six people of Pakistani origin were arrested on suspicion of " fraud" Tuesday in Barcelona