Madrid, Barcelona - Spanish police Thursday detained 18 people on charges of links with Islamist terrorism, including the 2004 Madrid train bombings, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said.

Eight of the detainees were Moroccans, Rubalcaba said. Six are being held in the Barcelona area, one in Madrid and one in Algeciras on the southern coast.

Ten other people were also being questioned, Rubalcaba said, adding that some of them might be released.

Police searched several addresses, seizing documents.

The detainees were suspected of belonging to a group that backed al-Qaeda-linked terrorists by funding terror cells and recruiting fighters to travel to Iraq.

They were believed to have helped several suspects in the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people hide from and escape authorities.

Those the group allegedly helped include: Mohammed Larbi Ben Sellam, who was captured in 2005 and sentenced for the bombings with 20 other people a year ago; Abdelilah Hriz, who was detained in Morocco; and Mohammed Afallah and Daoud Ouhnane, who are thought to have died in suicide attacks in Iraq.

In January, 14 mainly Pakistani suspects were held in Barcelona on charges of planning attacks against the city's transport network. (dpa)