Your trusted source

A judge at the Spanish National Court took statements Friday from three men who may have been plotting terrorist attacks on British and U.S. targets, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said, according to CNN.

Judge Pablo Ruz has not yet decided whether to prosecute the defendants, a court spokesman said.

Two of the men were arrested Wednesday and the third Thursday. The case has been called one of Spain's largest operations against al Qaeda, according to Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz.

The investigation is now focusing on finding the explosives that the three suspects may have hidden, police sources said. Spanish police were searching a construction company in Gibraltar.

The Interior Ministry said the men were "ready to act in Spain and Europe." One of the men is Turkish, and the other two are believed to be of Russian-Chechen origin. Police sources said they had gathered enough explosives to "blow up a bus."

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Cecilia Rivera released only the initials of the three suspects. The Turkish national is identified as C.Y., and the others are A.A.A. and M.A.

The two men arrested Wednesday were on a bus traveling to France when police detained them.
Diaz said they "resisted fiercely."

Police sources said they were stopped in Almuradiel, a town about midway between Madrid and the country's southern coast.