Dutch police arrest terror suspects

The Dutch raids follow the arrest of Abu Talha in Madrid

Dutch police have arrested four men suspected of belonging to an Algerian Islamic extremist group, following several raids around the country.

The suspects are thought to be members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat which is blamed for carrying out violent attacks in Algeria and elsewhere.

"They are accused of providing logistical support for the group, including funds and false identity papers," Wim de Bruin, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, told BBC News Online.

The arrests come as Spain said it had detained a second suspected al-Qaeda member, a day after the man believed to be the network's chief financier, Muhammad Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi, also known as Abu Talha, was arrested in Madrid.

German raids

Ten people were arrested in the Dutch raids, in Eindhoven, Bergen-op-Zoom and Groningen.

Five were released, while one was handed over to immigration authorities for allegedly residing illegally in the Netherlands.

The other four face charges of participation in a criminal organisation.

Several fake passports were found during search carried out this morning, said Mr de Bruin.

On Tuesday, 11 people were arrested in raids in Germany.

German prosecutors are reported to have started interrogating some of them, who are all suspected members of the German cell of the Sunni Palestinian 'al-Tawhid' movement, a fundamentalist group supporting Islamic "jihad", or "holy war".