ITALY today claimed to have snared one of the masterminds of the March 11 Madrid bombings in a counter-terrorism operation that also involved police forces in Spain and Belgium.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9790955%255E1702,00.html

Belgian police said they had detained a total of 15 people acting on a tip-off from Italian anti-terrorist counterparts, who earlier had arrested three suspects in overnight raids in Milan.

Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu described one suspect held in Italy as one of the authors of the March 11 bombings in Madrid, which killed nearly 200 people and injured more than a thousand.

Counter-terrorism officials in Madrid concurred, identifying the main suspect as Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, adding he was "one of the masterminds, one of the organisers of the attacks".

Pisanu asserted Ahmed was "preparing other attacks" when arrested, but gave no further details.

Meanwhile, Belgian prosecutor Daniel Bernard said the 15 arrested in his country were all foreigners, including Palestinians, Jordanians, Moroccans and Egyptians.

But Bernard drew no immediate link between the arrests and the Madrid bombings, saying only that Belgian police were acting on a tip-off from Italy in an operation that also took in Spain.

He said he had been informed by Italian authorities that the men were "implicated in the preparation of an attack, probably abroad".

Though he described suspicions about a planned attack abroad as real, "we don't have any element to say in what country or on what target".

"One of the three arrested in Italy, a character of notable ideological and operational importance, is probably one of the principal authors of the Madrid bombings and was preparing other attacks."

The minister described the operation as being "of very great importance, which for the moment has blocked a dangerous terrorist group gravitating towards al-Qaeda".

Spanish judge Juan del Olmo, who is investigating the March 11 attacks, has issued an international arrest warrant against Ahmed, judicial officials said.

A Tunisian national, Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, believed to be the leader and coordinator of the train bombings, as well as six other Islamists blew themselves up in a Madrid suburb after they had been tracked down by the police.

Italy's Corriere della Sera said investigating magistrates authorised the capture of Ahmed, known as "Mohammed the Egyptian", yesterday after weeks of police surveillance.