Spain arrests three Pakistanis accused of promoting militancy

MADRID: Three people from Pakistan were arrested in Spain on Friday, accused of promoting militancy through social media, the interior ministry said.



The three shared a home in the northeast city of Lleida from where they are accused of distributing content justifying Islamic State executions and supporting the Taliban and Pakistani groups, the ministry said. Authorities have not yet determined if they were part of a larger network, it added.



Spain has now detained 29 people suspected of belonging to or acting for extremist militant groups since the beginning of the year.

Earlier, German police arrested three Pakistani suspects as 18 women reported becoming victims of sexual assaults at a music festival in May.

The mostly young women said they were encircled and groped by groups of men on a Saturday night in ways that recalled a spate of mob attacks at chaotic New Year’s festivities in Cologne.



Police said they were investigating whether the perpetrators also robbed the women in the latest attacks at a four-day open air music festival in the western city of Darmstadt.