Spain arrested 16 suspected extremists Friday linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network who were preparing to launch chemical attacks, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said. In predawn raids, police swooped on 12 homes in the northeastern Catalonia region surrounding Barcelona, also discovering explosives, bomb components and radio transmission equipment used to communicate with Islamic extremists in Algeria and Chechnya, Spain's Interior Minister Angel Acebes said.

"They (police) have broken up a major terrorist network ... linked in this case to the Algerian Salafist group, a splinter of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which has clear connections with the criminal organization of bin Laden," Aznar told a news conference in the northern port city of La Coruna.

"The network had connections with terrorists recently arrested in France and the United Kingdom, and they were preparing attacks with explosives and chemical materials," he said. He did not say where the attacks were to have been.

The suspects belonged to two groups led by Algerians identified as Mohamed Tahraqui and Bard Eddin Ferdji, who were among those held, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The 16, mostly young Algerian men, were led from a Barcelona police station in handcuffs late Friday afternoon and bundled into cars to be driven to Madrid for more questioning.

They were being held on suspicion of belonging to an armed group.

In northeastern Italy Friday, police searched homes of three Muslims after discovering explosives and maps marking the route to a NATO installation earlier in the week. Five Moroccans were detained in connection with the find.

PHOTO CAPTION

A suspected al Qaeda member (C) is led by police as they leave Barcelona's central police station January 24, 2003. (Miquel Perales/Re