Spanish police detain three al Qaeda terror suspects

AFP - Spanish police arrested three suspected members of Al-Qaeda who had explosives and were thought to be planning an attack in Spain or elsewhere in Europe, the government said Thursday.

"This is one of the biggest investigations which has been carried out up until now against the Al-Qaeda terrorist group at an international level," Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told a news conference.

"There is a clear indication that those arrested could have been planning an attack in Spain or in Europe," he added.

Police found enough explosives to blow up a bus, in a flat which the men were renting in the southern town of La Linea de Concepcion in Andalucia, where one of the suspects was detained on Wednesday, the minister added.

The two other suspects were arrested Wednesday in the central town of Ciudad Real while apparently on their way to France, he said.