No evidence al-Qaida knew of Madrid plot

NEW YORK - A year after terrorists killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500 at two Madrid train stations, both U.S. and Spanish officials say that there is no evidence that al-Qaida leadership authorized or even knew of the plan.  

Instead, say officials, their belief is that those responsible, while inspired by al-Qaida, were local Muslims who took an opportunity to carry out an attack that would show their anger over Spanish involvement with the U.S.

In fact, say U.S. officials, the attack marked a significant turning point in the history of radical Islamic terror. It represented a shift from attacks carried out by al-Qaida to "like-minded" and "affiliate" groups with firm links to what the intelligence community now refers to as "al-Qaida Central,” the group led by Osama bin Laden. 

Move away from al-Qaida central
"You look at places like Bali, Indonesia, Morocco, Turkey, Madrid," one senior U.S. intelligence official said during one of a series of interviews and briefings provided to NBC News over the last several months. "Many of these were conducted by people who had differing linkages to al-Qaida central. In some cases you're getting further and further away from the center.

"So al-Qaida central is plotting and we think they're involved in some of the current plotting, [but] you also have in parallel a global movement of people, not necessarily close to or linked to al-Qaida, but who themselves are plotting as well."

In the days and weeks after the March 11, 2004 attack, U.S. and Spanish officials were quoted as saying that bin Laden or Jordanian terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or a new Islamic terrorist, Syrian Mustapha Setmariam Nasar, were behind the attack.  

In part, that analysis was driven by the knowledge that the 9/11 hijackers had met and planned those attacks in Spain and by the accelerating tempo of terrorist attacks in Iraq at the time.

Al-Qaida provided inspiration and little else
Now, however, Spanish officials in particular rule out any role for al-Qaida and in particular say there is no evidence of any Zarqawi role.  

As for Setmariam Nasar, officials say the man, newly outfitted with a $5 million reward on his head, is more of a "pen jihadist...all talk and no action."

Instead, the leadership role most likely can be attributed to Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, aka "The Tunisian" who committed suicide and killed a Spanish counter terrorism officer three weeks after the attack as his apartment was surrounded and an assault was being planned.

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