Police arrest 8 alleged members of jihadi cell that urged attacks in Spain, recruited fighters

MADRID – Spanish police on Friday arrested eight suspected members of a jihadi terror cell that urged attacks to be carried out in Spain and selected people to send to fight for the Islamic State armed group in Iraq and Syria, the Interior Ministry said.

The eight Spaniards — five of whom are of Moroccan origin— are suspected of carrying out an intense pro-jihad propaganda campaign among the immigrant community in Spain and Spaniards of Moroccan background, the ministry said.

The arrested included six men and two women.

The arrests were made in the northeastern provinces of Barcelona and Girona and in the central areas of Avila and Ciudad Real.

Spain has arrested dozens of suspected jihadist militants and recruiters in recent years. Most of the arrests have been in Ceuta and Melilla, two Spanish city enclaves in North Africa that are surrounded by Morocco on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other.

On Tuesday, police said they had neutralized a jihadi cell with the arrests of two people in Ceuta who were part of a group allegedly planning to carry out attacks in Spain and other European countries. Four others suspected members of the cell were arrested in January.

Also Tuesday, a judge jailed a Moroccan woman on provisional charges of belonging to IS after she was arrested on suspicion of being involved in female recruitment.