The Spanish judge investigating the Madrid train bombings issued a world-wide arrest warrant on Wednesday for a wealthy Moroccan man also sought in connection with bombings in Casablanca and Riyadh last year.
Judge Juan del Olmo issued five arrest warrants through the international police agency Interpol, and sources close to the investigation confirmed that one of them was for Abdelkarim el Mejjati. The other four suspects were not identified.
Mejjati, 36, the son of a Moroccan father and a French mother, is described by Moroccan investigators as an Islamic holy warrior who fought in Bosnia and Afghanistan and who was last seen in Morocco shortly before September 11, 2001.
The March 11 bombings of four Madrid commuter trains killed 191 people in the first attack in the West linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network since the September 11 strikes on New York and Washington.
The attack was timed three days before Spain's general election and played a role in helping the opposition Socialists to a surprise victory that will remove a strongly pro-American party from power.
The five Spanish warrants were issued a day after the Spanish government identified the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group as the prime suspect in the Madrid blasts.
Some news reports have identified Mejjati as the head of that shadowy group, also suspected of being connected to the Casablanca attacks of last May, in which 12 suicide bombers and 33 others were killed.
Mejjati is also wanted by Saudi authorities in connection with suicide attacks on housing compounds in Riyadh last year.
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