MADRID, Jan 25: The Spanish government expressed doubt on Friday about how close an alleged cell of Muslims may have been to staging suicide attacks, questioning the assertion of a judge who said such bombings had been imminent before jailing 10 suspects.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said police who staged raids on Saturday in Barcelona and made the arrests did not find enough explosives “to infer an attack was imminent” and that the raids were prompted only by a tip-off from a police informant.

Judge Ismael Moreno of the National Court ordered the detainees — nine Pakistanis and an Indian — jailed on Wednesday night pending further investigation.

Moreno, too, said the group had only a small amount of bomb-making material that was not enough for a major attack. Still, he said three members of the cell had planned suicide bombings against Barcelona’s public transport network to take place on the weekend they were arrested.

Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido has also said that attacks were imminent.

The interior minister said on Friday that officials believe the police informant is credible but that now “there are doubts” as to how close the cell was to acting.

Rubalcaba told Cadena Ser radio that the cell was probably using the explosives for training purposes but would have attacked soon.

“From the moment a cell like this decides to attack to when it actually does, not much time goes by,” the minister said.

A discrepancy has also emerged as to how many cell members allegedly planned to blow themselves up. The judge said three, but the attorney general said six.

Conde-Pumpido’s office said on Friday this was due to a difference in how the two men interpret evidence gathered by police investigators.

Speaking later at a news conference, Rubalcaba also said the discrepancy stemmed from different conclusions by the attorney general and police whose work led to Moreno’s jailing order. “They do not have to coincide,” Rubalcaba said.—AP