Spain to maintain high alert over persistent terror threat

Spain's Interior Minister on Tuesday announced that the high terror alert level in force would be maintained due to a potential, non-specific threat that required precautions.

Speaking in Paris, Juan Ignacio Zoido said Spanish security officials had recommended that the level-four protocol should be maintained, Efe news reported.

It was this alert level that had "allowed the combat and detention of many members of the Islamic State", he said.

Zoido, who had his first bilateral meeting with his French counterpart Bruno Le Roux, said since the alert level was raised in 2015, security forces had arrested 177 suspected extremists in Spain.

He said some radicalised people who had joined terror networks in Syria and Iraq had returned, but insisted that security forces had them under control.

Zoido insisted on moving forward and sharing information and analysis on every attack that happens, wherever in the world.

--IANS

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