Letters suggest Eta link with Islamic terror

From The Times

By David Sharrock
Evidence has emerged that points to collusion between Basque separatists and al-Qaeda

THE first evidence of collaboration between Islamic terrorists and Eta, the Basque separatist group, was published in Spain yesterday, helping to explain why José María Aznar, the former Prime Minister, was so quick to blame Eta for the March 11 Madrid train bombings, despite clues emerging within hours of the atrocity that indicated the involvement of extremist Muslims.

Letters between senior members of the two groups were published by the leading Spanish newspaper El Mundo, which said the previous Government’s awareness of the contacts was one reason that it insisted in the immediate aftermath of the bombings of commuter trains in the Spanish capital that Eta was the prime suspect.

[...]

El Mundo said that it had been given access to some of the information upon which the Government had based its response to the attacks, including records of letters and telephone conversations “which would support the possible collaboration between Eta and Islamist groups”.

The newspaper said that the most significant document was a letter from a known Islamic fundamentalist held in a French prison to an Eta prisoner in Madrid sent one day after the al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington of September 11, 2001.

[...]

El Mundo said that the Eta member was known inside the organisation for his “double pressure”, theory, in which the Spanish Government would not be able to cope with an Eta campaign in northern Spain at the same time as an Islamist terrorist campaign in the south of the country.

“The documents, provided by the information services, corroborated the Government’s thesis that Eta was at least co-author of the attacks,” El Mundo said.

It recalled that Eta had tried to attack Madrid shortly before the March bombings, had attempted to explode bombs on trains and had also wanted to wreak havoc on a ski resort by detonating a dozen bombs in rucksacks, as well as having previously planned to use mobile telephones as detonators for explosive devices.

Too late for the Spanish elections.