Bombings probe leads to arrest of Oregon lawyer

WASHINGTON -- A lawyer from Portland, Ore., was arrested by FBI agents Thursday as part of the investigation into the deadly train bombings in Spain, federal officials said. Brandon Mayfield, a U.S. citizen, was taken into custody on a material witness warrant, said a senior law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The arrest is the first known in the United States with connections to the March 11 bombings in Madrid. The FBI also searched the man's home, which he shares with his wife, the official said.

Mayfield's fingerprints were found on materials related to the Madrid bombings, said a second senior law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Portland, confirmed two search warrants had been served Thursday in Washington County, which includes parts of Portland. She would not release further details.

Material witness warrants, usually kept confidential by a federal judge, are used by the government to hold people suspected of having direct knowledge about a crime or to allow time for further investigation into the witness. Suspects may be held indefinitely without formal charges.

Officials would not provide any further details about the man or his alleged connection with the Madrid bombings, which killed 191 people and injured 2,000 others. Spanish authorities blame the attack on Islamic extremists, possibly linked to al-Qaida.

Eighteen people have been charged to date in Spain -- six charged with mass murder and the others with collaboration or with belonging to a terrorist organization. The FBI and other U.S. agencies have warned that al-Qaida or its sympathizers might attempt to attack mass transit systems in major U.S. cities this summer.

Earlier this year, in Portland, the last of six men and a woman were sentenced on charges of conspiring to wage war against the United States by helping al-Qaida and the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan.

Mayfield represented one of those people, Jeffrey Leon Battle, in a custody case involving Battle's son. Law enforcement officials did not know of any further contacts between Mayfield and any of the other Portland terrorism defendants.