2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 17, 2004 NATION WORLD Spain's police suspect six Moroccans NEWS IN BRIEF HEADLINES O RUD H O ,% f ....y, Mf : : MADRID, Spain (AP) - Police reportedly now suspect at least six Moroccans took part in the Madrid train bombings, and the United States is assisting a growing international investigation that is increasingly focused on Islamic militants possibly linked to al-Qaida. A 45-year-old woman died of her injuries yester- day, raising the death toll from last Thursday's bomb- ings to 201. Of the more than 1,600 wounded, eight are in critical condition. Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela led a Mass at Madrid's cathedral last night remembering the vic- tims of the bloodiest terrorist attack in Spain's his- tory. "The tragic attacks of March 11 have sunk us all into deep pain," intoned Varela, a huge black ribbon hanging from a wall above the altar. "To kill your own kind, to kill a brother, is to attack God himself." The main suspect in custody in the attacks, Moroc- can immigrant Jamal Zougam, has already been identified by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon as a fol- lower of Imad Yarkas, the alleged leader of Spain's al-Qaida cell who is jailed on suspicion he helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The daily newspaper El Pais reported yesterday that police believe they have identified five other Moroccans who directly participated in the attacks and are at large. Spain's Interior Ministry refused comment. Two people who were traveling on one of the attacked trains have said that Zougam was aboard just before the bombs began exploding, El Pais said. With signs that the bombings were carried out by Islamic extremists who operate and have confeder- ates in several countries, FBI agents are helping Spanish police in using fingerprints and names to seek a full picture of Zougam and four other suspects in custody, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said in Washington. Spanish police have also arrested two more Moroccans and two Indians, but their possible role in the attacks has not been specified. European coun- tries were searching their databases for any informa- GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Israeli air strikes kill two Palestinians An Israeli helicopter fired missiles at a Gaza City building yesterday, killing two Palestinians and wounding 14, including a 2-year-old girl. The attack was the start of a new Israeli offensive sparked by a suicide bombing at an Israeli seaport. The missile strike came just hours after Israel's Security Cabinet approved a new campaign of stepped-up raids into Gaza cities and towns and killings of Palestinian militants, including leaders of the violent Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, an Israeli security official said. Throughout the day yesterday, Israeli tanks were seen mobilizing around the volatile coastal strip, while Palestinians lined up at bakeries and groceries to stock up on food in case of new Israeli assaults. The Israeli military said the building destroyed in the missile strike housed "Islamic Jihad terrorists, involved in attacks against Israelis." Islamic Jihad officials confirmed one of those killed was a member of the group but said the main target, area commander Mohammed Kharoubi, escaped. They would not say if Kharoubi was hurt in the attack. Israel Radio said he had been lightly wounded. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti New Haitian leader builds unity government Haiti's new prime minister worked to build a unity government yesterday, and with 11 of 13 ministers reportedly chosen, none was from ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family party. Aristide spent his second day in neighboring Jamaica, where he returned Monday after two weeks of exile in the Central African Republic. He was given temporary asylum in Jamaica to meet with his daughters. Aristide's return to the Caribbean, however, caused fears in Port-au-Prince and Washington that his presence would pro- voke more unrest in Haiti. Chanting "Vive Aristide!" dozens of young men demonstrated in the tense Port-au- Prince neighborhood of Belair, demanding Aristide's return and the departure of a U.S.-led international peacekeeping force. "One day, Aristide is going to return here. He hasn't done anything wrong," said protester Edeg Rosier, a 31-year-old electri- cian. "Aristide represents something special for us. He represents the poor and the forgotten." Wilgo Supreme Ebouard, leader of a neighborhood group, angrily com- plained that peacekeepers patrol the slum from dusk to dawn and that residents are afraid to leave their homes. Two police officers yesterday accompany one of the detained suspects (center) alleged to be connected to the train bomb attacks In Madrid, is seen outside the Nuevo Siglo telephone calling center in Madrid. tion pertinent to the attack. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymi- ty, said "it's increasingly likely Islamic extremists were involved in these attacks. In terms of assigning responsibility, it isn't clear." "It's not clear who these groups were," the official said, referring to whether they had links to al-Qaida and other extremist groups or even to the Basque separatist group ETA. A suspected link between the Madrid bombings and suicide bomb attacks in Casablanca, Morocco, last year grew stronger yesterday when French pri- vate investigator Jean-Charles Brisard described a phone tap in which Zougam said he had met with Mohamed Fizazi, the spiritual leader of Salafia Jiha- dia, a clandestine Moroccan extremist group. Salafia Jihadia is suspected of involvement in the Casablanca attack, which killed 33 people and 12 bombers and has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network. Brisard told The Associated Press the tapped call is cited in a lengthy report written for Gar- zon's inquiry of the Sept. 11 attacks. Brisard, who is helping investigate the Sept. 11 attacks for lawyers representing some victims' families, has a copy of the report. Pakistani forces ki1124 terror suspects WANA, Pakistan (AP) - Paramili- tary troops stormed a fortress-like compound with mortars and machine- gun fire yesterday, killing 24 suspects in a fierce crackdown on al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives in the rugged tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, the army spokesman said. The operation - which left at least eight Pakistani troops dead and 15 wounded - was a stunning message delivered just one day after the military president promised to rid the territory of foreign terrorists. There have been several anti-terror operations in the semiautonomous trib- al belt in recent months, but none so bloody. Brig. Mahmood Shah, security chief in the tribal regions, said the raid was "the most deadly" in memory in the tribal areas. "There will be more such opera- tions," he told The Associated Press. "We will continue these operations until it is assured that our tribal areas have been purged of foreign terrorists." Army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sul- tan said 24 suspects were killed in the raid, which began shortly after 5 a.m. near Wana, in the South Waziristan region, just a few miles from the Afghan border. The majority of those killed appeared to be tribesmen suspected of sheltering the terrorists, but Sultan said several of the dead were also foreign- ers presumed to be members of al- Qaida. There was no indication any senior al-Qaida or Taliban leaders were among the dead, though most of those killed had not yet been identified. The operation followed an announce- ment over the weekend that American forces are stepping up a sweep on the Afghan side of the border to capture al- Qaida and Taliban holdouts, including terror chief Osama bin Laden and Tal- iban leader Mullah Omar. Sultan said soldiers were able to retrieve only a small number of the dead suspects because of continued ten- sion in the region, though the fighting had ended by yesterday evening. The bodies of all eight dead soldiers were taken to army headquarters at Wana. About 700 paramilitary forces began the operation early yesterday in Kaloosha, a village about six miles west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan. A Kaloosha resident, Qasim Khan, said paramilitary troops exchanged fire with people inside the mud-brick compound, which had several low- flung buildings in it and was surround- ed by a high wall and several lookout towers. The fortress-like design is common in the lawless tribal belt. It was unclear who was inside, but it was believed to belong to one of seven tribesmen from the Yargul Khel clan "We will continue these operations until it is assured that our tribal areas have been purged of foreign terrorists." - Brig. Mahmood Shah Pakistani Security Chief accused of harboring al-Qaida and Tal- iban suspects. The seven have refused to surrender to authorities. "We are not allowed to go out of our homes," Khan told an AP reporter by telephone from the besieged village. The operation was the latest in a series of military sweeps in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal regions. BAGHDAD, Iraq aqi insurgents kill humanitarian workers Drive-by gunmen killed two Euro- peans working on a water project south of the Iraqi capital yesterday, bringing to six the number of foreign humanitar- ian workers cut down in shooting attacks in Iraq over the past two days. Four American missionaries also working on a water project in the north- ern city of Mosul were killed in a simi- lar attack a day earlier. The twin attacks seemed to signal a shift by insurgent gunmen to so-called "soft" targets in their effort to snarl work by the U.S.-led coalition to rebuild Iraq in preparation for the American hand-over of authority to the Iraqis on June 30. Three Iraqi police officers and a translator working for the U.S. military also were gunned down yesterday, vic- tims of a long-running rebel campaign to kill those perceived as collaborating with the United States. COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio shootin suspect had mental iless The man wanted by police in a deadly string of highway sniper attacks has a history of mental illness and is believed to have a semiautomatic pistol and ammunition, authorities said yesterday. Charles McCoy Jr., 28, lived with his mother within miles of where the gun- man's bullets killed a passenger, shat- tered windshields, dented school buses and drilled into homes and a school. "McCoy has had mental health issues in the past and is currently not on medication," the Franklin County Sheriff's Office said in a bulletin released to police departments across the country. "He is believed to have suicidal or homicidal tendencies." WASHINGTON Fed keeps interest rates at 45-year low Federal Reserve policy-makers, wor- ried about companies' inability to cre- ate new jobs, held interest rates at a 45-year low yesterday and signaled anew that they will be slow to order any future increase that could cramp the economy's recovery. Private economists viewed the Fed policy statement as more somber than its comments after a similar meeting in late January, reflecting the fact that the cen- tral bank has seen two disappointing monthly employment reports since then. Some economists said the Fed likely would not raise its target for the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, from 1 percent until sometime in 2005. - Compiled from Daily wire reports I WWWMICHIGANDAILY.COM The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscrip- tions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327. 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