Switzerland has agreed to extradite to Spain the suspected leader of a cell that planned a bomb attack in central Madrid, the Justice Ministry said on Friday. But Mohammad Ashraf, who Spain says was the brains behind an intended attack on Spain's High Court, site of the investigation into the March 11 train bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid, has a month in which to appeal against the decision. "The Federal Office of Justice has ordered the extradition of Mohammed Ashraf to Spain," the Justice Ministry said in a statement. "Ashraf has 30 days in which to lodge an appeal," it added. According to the Spanish government, the 31-year-old Ashraf led a group called "Martyrs for Morocco" that planned to detonate a truck loaded with 500 kg (1,100 lb) of explosives. Spain says Ashraf recruited potential holy warriors while jailed between 1999 and 2002 in Spain for belonging to an armed group. He was detained in Switzerland for immigration offences. According to the Swiss Federal Office of Refugees, Ashraf unsuccessfully sought asylum in Switzerland in 2003 saying he was Palestinian.
