Spanish police have arrested 16 Islamic terror suspects, 11 of whom were linked to a terror network run by Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaida's leader in Iraq, police said Wednesday.

The arrests were made in separate operations in Madrid and across the country. Some 500 Spanish police took part in the raids, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the 11 linked to Zarqawi belonged to a terrorist network established in Spain and were related to Ansar al-Islam, a group it said run by Zarqawi.

The other five were suspects in last year's Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people and injured more than 1,500. It was Spain's worst ever terrorist attack.

Source: Xinhua