MADRID - A Syrian on trial in Spain over alleged involvement in the September 11 attacks in the United States was Thursday formally named as a suspect in last year's Madrid train bombings, judicial sources said.
Driss Chebli is one of 24 people in the dock in the Al-Qaeda trial, Europe's largest to date concerning suspects from the terror group and which opened on April 22 in Madrid.
Three of the accused, including Chebli, face up to 62,000 years in jail for allegedly collaborating on plans for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Judge Juan del Olmo, investigating the March 11, 2004 bombings of four trains in the Spanish capital in which 191 people were killed, added Chebli to his list of suspects for those attacks -- the worst terrorist outrage on European soil -- along with 10 others.
A further 25 people are already in custody facing charges for the attacks carried out by mainly Moroccan Islamic extremists.
With the latest 11 suspects a total of 101 people could face charges over the Madrid blasts.
Several of the suspects in the Al-Qaeda trial are believed to have links with some of the March 11 bombers.
One of the suspected Madrid bombers, Moroccan Jamal Zougam, is set to be called to the witness stand in the Al-Qaeda trial.
05/05/2005 17:06 GMT