A Spanish judge on Sunday ordered five men to be held in prison pending formal charges on suspicion they formed part of a Spanish cell working for Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, court documents showed.

Two are accused of making direct contact with the Hamburg cell known to have played a role in the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, and another is considered by authorities to be a highly trained guerrilla capable of a major suicide attack.

All five were arrested on Thursday on the orders of High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon, who is investigating suspected al Qaeda operations in Spain. Garzon questioned them for seven hours on Sunday.

Garzon on Wednesday formally charged 35 people including bin Laden himself for belonging to an armed group. Bin Laden and eight others were charged with playing a role in September 11.

In Sunday night's court order, Garzon said all five made contact with Tayseer Alouni, a journalist for Arab television network Al Jazeera who was among the 35 previously charged with links to the Spanish al Qaeda cell.

Defense lawyers representing three of the men declined to comment because they had not been allowed to speak to their clients and were not provided copies of the judge's order. Garzon alleges radical Islamists organizing around a Madrid mosque starting in 1994 eventually formed a cell in Spain under the leadership of Imad Eddim Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah.

Abu Dahdah is alleged to have traveled throughout Europe, Turkey and Afghanistan to conspire with other "mujahideen," including those of the Hamburg cell of September 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, who traveled in Spain in July 2001.

In Sunday's case, Garzon ordered four men held without bail while a fifth was granted bail of 60,000 euros ($67,780).

That man, Jamal Hussein Hussein, was said to have collaborated with the Spanish cell.

The others -- Sadeq Merizak, Ahmad Koshaji Kelani, Waheed Koshaji Kelani and Hassan Alhusein -- are accused of being fully fledged members. Garzon alleges the Koshaji Kelani brothers also visited some members of the Hamburg cell.

Court sources previously identified Merizak as Syrian but he is Moroccan. The other four are of Syrian origin, although defense lawyers say at least two have Spanish citizenship.

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