Saudi Money behind Madrid bombing (Guardian-UK)

MADRID, Spain (AP) - A Saudi cleric funneled money to an Egyptian described as one of the masterminds of the Madrid train bombings in March, Spanish and Italian newspapers reported Thursday.

The Egyptian suspect Rabei Osman Ahmed, arrested in Milan, Italy, in June on a request from Spanish authorities, identified Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, a former university professor in Saudi Arabia, as his financier while he was living in Spain between 2001 and 2003, Spain's El Mundo and Italy's Corriere della Sera said in a joint report.

The March 11 train bombings killed 191 people and have been blamed on Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida.

In a wiretapped conversation before his arrest, Osman Ahmed reportedly said: ``The Madrid attack is my project.''