Oregon lawyer is arrested in Madrid train bombings

The federal government is holding him as a material witness in the probe.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- An Oregon lawyer was taken into custody on Thursday in connection with the March train bombings in Madrid, the first American link to the terror attacks that killed 191 people and injured 2,000.
Brandon Mayfield, of Portland, Ore., was taken into custody by FBI agents on a material witness warrant, said a federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Search warrants were served at Mayfield's home in Beaverton, Ore., and office in Portland.
Evidence provided
Spanish authorities provided evidence to the FBI that apparently linked Mayfield to the attacks in Spain, said the official, who refused to elaborate on what that evidence was.
The official cautioned that there was still uncertainty about Mayfield's alleged role.
The terror attacks in Spain, believed to be the work of Islamic extremists with possible ties to Al-Qaida, are the deadliest since Sept. 11, 2001.
Eighteen people have been arrested in Spain in connection with the simultaneous bombings of commuter rail cars March 11.
There was no answer at Mayfield's home Thursday.
Federal authorities are holding Mayfield as a material witness in a grand jury investigation, which means he can be held indefinitely without the government's bringing charges against him. The tactic is frequently used to buy the government more time to build a case against someone believed to have knowledge of a crime.
Brushes with terrorism
Portland has had brushes with terrorism notoriety before. Six men and a woman were charged as part of a terror cell after several of them tried to enter Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks to fight with the Taliban. Six members of the cell pleaded guilty last year. The seventh was believed to have been killed in Afghanistan.
The ringleader in the Portland cell case, Jeffrey Battle, was a former U.S. Army reservist.
Attorney General John Ashcroft called those arrests "a defining day" in America's war on terrorism.