The government of Spain says police have arrested six members of a jihadist cell that allegedly recruited militants to fight in Mali and Libya.
The Spanish Interior Ministry says the six men, all of Spanish nationality, were arrested during house searches Friday in Spain's north African enclave of Melilla, bordering Morocco.
The ministry says the cell had sent 24 Moroccans and two Spaniards to fight with MUJAO, an al-Qaida-linked Islamist militant group that operates in northern Mali.
It says some of recruiters operated a media campaign called "Sharia 4 Spain" on the Internet.
The two Spaniards who went to Mali were identified as 42-year-old Benaissa Baghdadi, who allegedly trained at a MUJAO camp in the Malian desert, and Zakaraia Mohamed Said, an explosives experts said to still be in Mali.
Baghdadi was one of the six men arrested in Melilla on Friday.
MUJAO one of the Islamist extremist groups that seized control of northern Mali in 2012, before being ousted by French and African forces.
The Spanish Interior Ministry says the six men, all of Spanish nationality, were arrested during house searches Friday in Spain's north African enclave of Melilla, bordering Morocco.
The ministry says the cell had sent 24 Moroccans and two Spaniards to fight with MUJAO, an al-Qaida-linked Islamist militant group that operates in northern Mali.
It says some of recruiters operated a media campaign called "Sharia 4 Spain" on the Internet.
The two Spaniards who went to Mali were identified as 42-year-old Benaissa Baghdadi, who allegedly trained at a MUJAO camp in the Malian desert, and Zakaraia Mohamed Said, an explosives experts said to still be in Mali.
Baghdadi was one of the six men arrested in Melilla on Friday.
MUJAO one of the Islamist extremist groups that seized control of northern Mali in 2012, before being ousted by French and African forces.
