Among eleven individuals arrested in Ceuta earlier today are two brothers of the "Spanish Taliban," Hamed Abderrahmán, who was handed over to Spanish authorities in February 2004 after spending two years locked up in the Guantanamo Bay detention centre.

The arrests were made in an operation against an alleged Islamic terror cell that was preparing for, but not yet ready for, active duty. Twelve properties were searched and a large quantity of documents and propaganda materials confiscated although no weapons or explosives were found.

The operation was carried out on the orders of High Court judge, Baltasar Garzón, who will begin questioning the suspects, ten of whom are Spanish (the other being Moroccan), on Thursday.

Interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (archive photo), explained that "it is a question of an alleged terror cell that was in the process of being formed, and which did not yet have defined objectives."

Mr Rubalcaba went on to say that the gang had been under surveillance for some time, and that today's pre-emptive strike was made when it appeared that the group was on the verge of scaling up from "fanatical discourse to action."