Spanish police have arrested eight people suspected of recruiting jihadist militants for al Qaida-linked groups in Syria.

The Interior Ministry said the arrests were made early today in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, which is located on the northwest African coast, surrounded by Morocco on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other.

A ministry statement said the group was suspected of sending dozens of potential fighters from Spain Morocco to Syria, some of whom had carried out suicide attacks. It says others had been sent to training camps.

The ministry said the group gathered recruits and provided them with the money and the means to travel abroad under the orders of al Qaida.

Details of the identities of those arrested were not immediately available.

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