(El País) Spain has changed in the last two decades. So has the jihadist threat. Ever since 10 backpack bombs exploded on four Madrid commuter trains on March 11, 2004, killing 192 people and wounding nearly 2,000, security forces have carried out more than 400 operations against Islamist terrorism and arrested 1,049 suspected jihadists. The last arrest took place last Wednesday in Melilla, an exclave city on the northern coast of Africa. But the background of the detainees has been evolving over the years. Seven factors explain the changes.
From Al Qaida to ISIS. Fernando Reinares, a professor at Rey Juan Carlos University, associate researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute think tank and author of several books on the March 11 bombings, emphasizes that the terrorist structure that committed the Madrid attacks “had a direct connection with the command of Al Qaida,” then the hegemonic jihadist organization. Two decades later, the spotlight has been taken over by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS).
