Spain Releases Intelligence Reports

The government has declassified intelligence documents it said would refute charges that it lied in the immediate aftermath of the Madrid bombings by insisting that Basque separatists were responsible. "They will clear up any doubt about the information government had on those days," Zaplana said.

The government has been accused of misleading the public by insisting the armed Basque separatist group ETA was its prime suspect in the bombings that killed 201 people even as evidence started surfacing of a possible Islamic link.

Cadena Ser radio, which is close to Spain's incoming Socialist government, provided more evidence that it said suggested the government suspected an Islamic link even though publicly it pointed the finger at ETA.

The station said Thursday that prison wardens switched Driss Chebli, a jailed al-Qaida suspect allegedly linked to reputed Spanish cell leader Imad Yarkas, into solitary confinement on March 11 after the Madrid attacks, even as Interior Minister Angel Acebes insisted ETA was the main focus of the investigation. Cadena Ser said it had obtained a document from Soto del Real prison, where Chebli is being held, detailing the order placing him in solitary confinement.


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