Spanish police arrested 16 suspected Islamist militants yesterday, including followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and men preparing to become suicide bombers in Iraq, the Interior Ministry said.

It was the second European swoop in two days against suspected backers of the Iraqi insurgency, following Germany's arrest of three Iraqis on Tuesday.

Eleven of the suspects in Spain were followers of Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, the Interior Ministry said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.