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March 12, 2004, Scotsman MASS MURDER IN MADRID TERROR BLASTS KILL 190 COMMUTERS TEN BOMBS HIT FOUR TRAINS IN FOUR MINUTES ARABIC TAPE DISCOVERED Gethin Chamberlain Diplomatic Correspondent IT WAS the worst terrorist attack in the European Union since Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie more than 15 years ago; by yesterday evening, at least 190 people were dead and more than 1,000 were injured, after ten bombs fashioned from compacted dynamite tore through trains and stations as commuters made their way into work in the Spanish capital, Madrid. The bombs, hidden in rucksacks, exploded in a 15-minute span along a nine -mile stretch of commuter line from Santa Eugenia to the Atocha terminal, a bustling hub for subway, commuter and long-distance trains just south of Madrid's famed Prado Museum. The Spanish government initially blamed the Basque separatist group ETA, but began to think again after police found detonators and an Arabic-language audio tape of Koranic verses in a suspect van near where the bombed trains originated. Soon afterwards, a message from a group calling itself the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri and issued in the name of al-Qaeda claimed that a "death squad" had penetrated "one of the pillars of the crusade alliance, Spain" as an act of revenge for Spain's support for the war in Iraq. If true, it would be the first attack on the European mainland by Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. "This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America's ally in its war against Islam," the statement said. "This is mass murder," said Jose Maria Aznar, Spain's prime minister. He initially pointed the finger of blame at ETA, the Basque separatist terrorist group which has claimed the lives of more than 800 people since it launched its campaign of violence in 1961 with an attempt to derail a train carrying politicians. But police and intelligence agencies in the US and Europe suggested a joint operation, possibly involving an ETA splinter group working with al-Qaeda or one of its associates. That position appeared to strengthen last night with the discovery near Madrid of a suspect vehicle containing seven detonators and a tape of Koran verses spoken in Arabic. Last September, bin Laden warned that al-Qaeda reserved the right to attack any country participating in the war in Iraq, particularly Spain. Speaking after the discovery of the van last night, the Spanish interior minister, Angel Acebes, said he had given instructions to the security forces not to rule out any line of investigation. There was a warning, too, for Britain, in the al-Qaeda message: "Aznar, where is America? Who will protect you, Britain, Japan, Italy and others from us?" the statement said. The e-mail statement also warned the US that a major strike was approaching. It said: "We announce the good news for the Muslims in the world that the strike of the black wind of death, the expected strike against America, is now at its final stage - 90 per cent ready - and it is coming soon, by God's will." The bombs started exploding about 7: 30am yesterday - three days before Spain is due to go to the polls - in a train arriving at Atocha station, a bustling hub, and at trains or on platforms at two stations on a commuter line leading to Atocha. It was carnage. They were all there, the all-too familiar symbols of the modern terrorist outrage: the bodies and parts scattered across the ground and hanging from improbable places, the screaming mingling with the sound of sirens, the bloodied faces and vacant expressions in the dulled eyes of the survivors. A stream of empty black hearses wound its way towards Atocha station, where the corpses lay covered in sheets of gold fabric. Medical staff knelt among the prone bodies of those too seriously injured to move, working methodically along the lines, while rescue workers tried to make sense of the twisted wreckage that only a few hours earlier had been trains packed with commuters. People wept, struggling to find the words to describe the horror of what they had seen. "I saw a baby torn to bits," said Ana Maria Mayor, a passenger. Santiago Feia Perez, an emergency doctor, remembered screaming, and bleeding wounded: "The trains were all destroyed, with headless corpses," he said. One body had been blown on to the station roof; at least 70 more lay on the platform, near where two bombs tore through a double-decker train. From the pockets of the dead came the ringing of mobile phones as their frantic relatives tried to find out if they had escaped. The Basque separatists were quick to deny responsibility. US intelligence services and the EU police agency noted that the atrocity bore little or no resemblance to previous ETA operations; the finger of blame, as so often since the attacks of 11 September, 2001, began to point towards al-Qaeda. By early evening the death toll stood at 190. It had risen inexorably throughout the day, from the first reports that spoke of a handful of dead and which were quickly superseded by ever more awful figures; 20, 30, 50, 70, on and on until it was hard to keep count. The number of injured burst through the 1,000 mark and just kept going. Mr Aznar's ruling Popular Party had campaigned for the elections on a promise to oppose an autonomy drive by powerful regions such as the Basque Country and Catalonia, saying further decentralisation would tear apart Spain's 1978 constitution. Yesterday, all campaigning was abandoned and three days of mourning were declared. The attack was like nothing in ETA's bloody past; its previous worst atrocity claimed the lives of 21 people in a Barcelona supermarket car park when a bomb went off early. Starved of support even in the Basque heartland, the organisation had recently declared a ceasefire in Catalonia and the Spanish government was convinced it was in its death throes. David Capitanchik, a terrorism expert based at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, was among the first to suggest that the Basques may have had help from another group. "It is a big job for ETA so there are reasons to think they could be doing it with somebody else," he said. "They have a history of collaborating with others, the IRA for example, and I don't see why they shouldn't have established a relationship with an al-Qaeda group." Al-Qaeda is believed to have operated in Spain in the past. Authorities arrested eight men suspected of being al-Qaeda operatives in November 2001 and one of those arrested was reported to have had links with the banned Basque separatist party Batasuna. Juergen Storbeck, the head of the EU's police agency, concurred. He said the blasts did not bear the hallmarks of ETA: "We're dealing with an attack that doesn't correspond to the modus operandi they have adopted up to now. In the past ETA has always attacked individuals, and if they saw any danger for the public they gave a warning." US intelligence officials also suggested a joint operation. One said the attack bore characteristics of both ETA and al-Qaeda, suggesting they may have been working together. "You have multiple attacks, multiple explosions in different locations in a short period of time which is very al Qaeda-ish," he said. George Bush later called Spain's prime minister and its king to express "our country's deepest sympathies toward those who lost their life". The US president said: "I told them we weep with the families, we stand strong with the people of Spain." Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said: "this terrible attack" underlined the threat that all countries faced from terrorism. It was, he said, "why we all must work together internationally to safeguard our peoples against such attacks and defeat terrorism."
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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