Spain Arrests ISIS Cell Planning Terrorist Attacks in Europe

FILE: Spanish civil guard members lead a person arrested on suspicion of links to militant group ISIS after a house search in Granada, southern Spain April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Pepe Marin
FILE: Spanish civil guard members lead a person arrested on suspicion of links to militant group ISIS after a house search in Granada, southern Spain April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Pepe Marin
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Spain Arrests ISIS Cell Planning Terrorist Attacks in Europe

FILE: Spanish civil guard members lead a person arrested on suspicion of links to militant group ISIS after a house search in Granada, southern Spain April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Pepe Marin
FILE: Spanish civil guard members lead a person arrested on suspicion of links to militant group ISIS after a house search in Granada, southern Spain April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Pepe Marin

The Spanish police have detained five people on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist group. Earlier, three other suspects were detained this year on charges of belonging to the same cell.

Investigations revealed that the ISIS affiliates have been trying to establish bases in several European Union countries and form cells to carry out terrorist plots.

The source said that these elements arrived in European countries through illegal immigration networks that use the seaports in southern Spain.

A spokesman for the Spanish police said that the detainees were very dangerous, and they almost acquired automatic weapons, including Kalashnikovs.

The spokesman said that the cell includes a group of Algerian youths, including two ISIS members, who had previously participated in the Syrian war. The agencies monitored their entry to Spain late last year.

Police sources said that following investigations and analysis of documents seized from the first group of suspects, a fourth person of Algerian nationality was arrested, whom they referred to as "Sheikh."

The sources said that the Sheikh entered from southern Spain by the sea with a group of illegal immigrants two months after the arrest of the cell members.

A Spanish security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Sheikh is responsible for recruiting new jihadist elements.

He was already known to law enforcement after being arrested in Turkey in 2016 while trying to join ISIS in Syria. He was deported to Algeria and sentenced to prison on terrorism charges.

After his release, he visited countries including Malaysia, Tanzania, and from there to the lands south of the Sahara, where he continued to recruit new members.

The source said that he continued to communicate with leading ISIS members and that he is the leader of the cell whose members were arrested.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the Sheikh was surrounded by Algerian youths who had previously been prosecuted for robbing tourists in Barcelona. ​

He persuaded them to join ISIS given his "great influence," and they began to help him recruit elements.



Iranian Missile Hits Main Hospital in Southern Israel as Strikes Wound Dozens

Smoke rises from Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike from Iran on Israel, in Be'er Sheva, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Smoke rises from Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike from Iran on Israel, in Be'er Sheva, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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Iranian Missile Hits Main Hospital in Southern Israel as Strikes Wound Dozens

Smoke rises from Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike from Iran on Israel, in Be'er Sheva, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Smoke rises from Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike from Iran on Israel, in Be'er Sheva, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

An Iranian missile slammed into the main hospital in southern Israel early Thursday, wounding people and causing “extensive damage," according to the medical facility. 

Israeli media aired footage of blown-out windows and heavy black smoke.

Another missile hit a high-rise building and several other residential buildings in at least two sites near Tel Aviv. At least 40 people were wounded in the attacks, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service.

Israel, meanwhile, carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, in its latest attack on the country's sprawling nuclear program, on the seventh day of a conflict that began with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, though most have been shot down by Israel's multi-tiered air defenses, which detect incoming fire and shoot down missiles heading toward population centers and critical infrastructure. Israeli officials acknowledge it is imperfect.

The missile hit the Soroka Medical Center, which has over 1,000 beds and provides services to the approximately 1 million residents of Israel’s south.

A hospital statement said several parts of the medical center were damaged and that the emergency room was treating several minor injuries. The hospital was closed to all new patients except for life-threatening cases. It was not immediately clear how many were wounded in the strike.

Many hospitals in Israel activated emergency plans in the past week, converting underground parking to hospital floors and move patients underground, especially those who are on ventilators or are difficult to move quickly.

Israel’s military said its fighter jets targeted the Arak facility and its reactor core seal to halt it from being used to produce plutonium.

“The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,” the military said. Israel separately claimed to have struck another site around Natanz it described as being related to Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian state TV said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” from the attack on the Arak site. An Iranian state television reporter, speaking live in the nearby town of Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.

Israel had warned earlier Thursday morning it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area.