Spain Al Qaeda: 3 Suspected Militants Arrested

MADRID — Police have arrested three suspected members of al-Qaida who amassed explosives and may have been plotting attacks in Spain or elsewhere in Europe, Spain's interior minister said Thursday. Authorities found evidence suggesting they were experimenting with ultralight planes and remote-controlled planes.

The three – a Russian, a Russian of Chechen descent, and a Turk, according to Spanish police – were detained Wednesday. The Turk was arrested in the southern city of La Linea bordering the British colony of Gibraltar, while the other two were picked up near the central city of Ciudad Real as they traveled toward a northern Spanish town near the border with France.

Enough explosive material was found in the house in La Linea where the Turk lived to blow up a bus, and the material could have been especially dangerous if combined with shrapnel, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said. (...)