Spanish security experts warn of 'lone-wolf' Islamist threats
Self-radicalised individuals now pose the greatest danger since the al-Qaeda train bombings in Madrid in 2004, officials say
A decade since the deadly al-Qaeda-inspired train bombings in Madrid, Spain is again on alert against growing numbers of Islamist "lone wolves" willing to launch fresh attacks, officials say.
The ranks of young radical Islamists in Spain have swelled, recruited not in mosques but in internet chat rooms and private houses, officials and experts say.
Spanish courts sentenced 18 people for the bombings that killed 191 people on commuter trains heading for Madrid's Atocha station on March 11, 2004.
The Spanish anti-terrorist service's level of alert has since remained at "a likely risk of attack", junior security minister Francisco Martinez said.
"That has not changed ... but the number of jihadists has grown," he said. "Especially in certain areas, radicalisation has increased."
They tend to gather in small, marginal places of worship and in private homes
A study by the Royal Elcano Institute, a Spanish research body, said 84 Islamists, all young men, were convicted over attack plots in Spain between 1996 and 2012, or died in relation to such attacks.