How’s that appeasement strategy working out for you, Prime Minister Zapatero? Spanish police break up Islamic cell. (Hat tip: GeoPoliticalReview.)

MADRID (AP) — Police on Wednesday arrested three Moroccans they believe were part of a radical Islamic cell looking to buy explosives in a central European country for a terrorist attack in Spain, the Interior Ministry said.

Majid Bakkali, Mohamed Douha and Abdelkader Farhaoui were arrested in the northeastern towns of Sant Andreu de la Barca and Mollet de Valles before dawn, the ministry said in a statement.

The three were part of a cell “that was engaged in different activities leading to the purchase of explosives, with the aim of committing terrorist attacks in our country,” the ministry said.

The arrests came within hours of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s announcement that, as of midnight Wednesday, Spain would activate a special security plan to cover the Christmas holiday period to try to protect the country from a terrorist attack. The plan lasts through Jan. 8.