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Prosecutors will attempt to prove that some of the accused are linked to the September 11 attacks and the Madrid train bombings. The trial is expected to last for two months and was adjourned until Monday.

As it was getting under way yesterday, another al-Qaeda suspect was being extradited from Switzerland to Spain. Mohamed Achraf’s group of Spanish-based extremists is suspected of plotting to bomb the National Court in Madrid.

HISTORY OF AL-QAEDA

1988 Al-Qaeda, meaning “The Base” in Arabic, is founded in Afghanistan by Osama bin Laden

June 25, 1996 US military base in Saudi Arabia bombed, 19 servicemen killed

February 22, 1998 Bin Laden issues a fatwa calling for attacks on US citizens

August 7, 1998 US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed, killing more than 220

October 12, 2000 Suicide attack on a US warship in Yemen kills 17 sailors

September 11, 2001 The worst attack onUS soil kills about 3,000 people

December 12, 2001 Mr Moussaoui becomes the first al-Qaeda suspect charged in the US with involvement in 9/11

December 23, 2001 Richard Reid, a Briton, arrested after trying to blow up an airliner with explosives hidden in his shoes. Gets life sentence

October 12, 2002 Bomb attacks on Bali nightclubs kill 202

March 1, 2003 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, thought to be one of al-Qaeda’s most senior leaders, is arrested in a joint Pakistani-CIA operation near Islamabad

March 11, 2004 Ten bombs explode on four Madrid trains, killing 191 people and leaving at least 1,800 injured

April 14, 2005 Al-Qaeda suspect Kamal Bourgass is jailed for 17 years for plotting to spread ricin in Britain

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