| Recent terror attacks
March 11, 2004: Simultaneous explosions rock three train stations in Madrid, killing at least 198 people and wounding more than 1 400 in Spain’s worst terrorist attack.
March 2, 2004: Coordinated blasts strike Shiite Muslim shrines in Baghdad and the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, killing at least 181 people.
October 12, 2002: Bombs kill 202 people in nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali. Authorities blame Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian terror group linked to al-Qaeda.
September 11, 2001: Al-Qaeda hijackers slam jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and a fourth hijacked jet crashes in a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3 000 people.
August 7, 1998: Nearly simultaneous al-Qaeda car bombings hit the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 231 people. |
A group linked to al-Qaeda that has claimed responsibility for the Madrid train massacre said the United States faced attack soon, through a warning sent to a London-based Arabic newspaper. The newspaper, Al-Quds al-Arabi, said on Friday it had received an e-mail warning from The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri.
It said: “We announce the good news for the Moslems in the world that the strike of the black wind of death, the expected strike against America, is now at its final stage — 90% ready — and it is coming soon, by God’s will.
“The faithful will be happy for God’s victory,” it said.
The group said its death squad had penetrated “one of the pillars of the crusader alliance”.
“This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America’s ally in its war against Islam,” it said in apparent reference to Spain’s support for the US-led invasion of Iraq last year.
Al-Quds editor Abdel Bari Atwan said he believed the claim of responsibility was genuine.
“In the past, the same organisation sent us similar letters.
“They claimed responsibility for the attacks against Italian troops in Iraq and also for other attacks in Istanbul against the British consulate,” he told Britain’s Sky News.
On Friday morning, the toll from the blasts had reached 198, with more than 1 400 wounded.
Spain’s interior minister, Angel Acebes, said Eta remained the main suspect but added that a van with seven detonators and Arabic language tapes with Koranic verses had been found in the town of Alcala de Henares outside Madrid. Three of the four bombed trains originated in Alcala de Henares and one passed through it, the state rail company Renfe said.
Acebes told a news conference: “The conclusion of this morning that pointed to the terrorist organisation [Eta] right now is still the main line of investigation … [But] I have given the security forces instructions not to rule out anything.”
Ten bombs ripped through rush-hour trains packed with office workers, schoolchildren and others heading for the city centre at about 7.30am, tearing gaping holes in the carriages and causing carnage and devastation.
Commuters described appalling scenes of mutilated bodies and seriously injured passengers, including young children and babies, lying in the mangled wreckage of trains at three separate stations in the city.
Shortly after the blasts, Spanish intelligence blamed Eta, pointing to explosive material similar to that used by the organisation in the past and earlier attempts to blow up trains.
Indiscriminate attacks would represent a radical change of tactics for the group and, although Eta never claims responsibility for its attacks immediately, terrorist experts warned that Islamist group such as al-Qaeda could not be eliminated.
Jürgen Storbeck, head of the European Union’s police agency Europol, said: “It could have been Eta … But we’re dealing with an attack that doesn’t correspond to the modus operandi they have adopted up to now.”
Eta’s founder, Julen de Madariaga, said it would be unlike the group to attack busy, working-class areas. “It’s not Eta’s method of working,” he told French television station LCI from the Basque city of San Sebastian.
Within hours of the blasts government sources pointed to the use of Eta’s trademark explosive, Titadine.
Police were reported to be hunting for two men who were seen jumping on and off trains further down the line from the places where the explosions took place.
Campaigning in Spain’s general election on Sunday was suspended and the prime minister, José MarÃa Aznar, whose People’s party had looked set to be voted back in, called for nationwide protests against terrorism that were expected to fill the streets of most Spanish cities this evening.
On Thursday night vigils of sympathy and protest were held in Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelona and in the Basque capital, Vitoria.
Special afternoon editions of the Spanish newspapers saw March 11 rapidly referred to as the country’s equivalent of September 11 and pointed to a similar mood of sombre shock spreading across the capital.
“March 11, 2004 has taken its place in the history of infamy,” said Aznar, who stands down in Sunday’s election, in a televised address.
“There are no negotiations possible or desirable with these assassins that have so often sown death through all of Spain. We will defeat them. We will succeed in finishing off the terrorist band, with the strength of the rule of law and with the unity of all Spaniards.”
The bombs started exploding in a commuter train arriving at Atocha station, a bustling hub for subway, commuter and long-distance trains in Spain’s capital.
Within minutes bombs exploded on three other trains and, it appeared, on platforms at two stations in working class districts of Madrid on a commuter line leading to Atocha.
There was speculation on Thursday that the bombers, who appeared to have placed their bombs in rucksacks, had deliberately staggered the explosions over several minutes to increase casualties.
Worst hit was a double-decker train at the station in the working class suburb of El Pozo, where two bombs killed 67 people.
Hospitals rapidly filled up and large queues formed outside blood donation centres. A vast, impromptu morgue was set up in an exhibition hall and busloads of relatives were arriving last night to try to identify remains. Authorities warned that it was often impossible to match body parts.
It was announced that three Israeli pathologists would be brought in to assist in the identification of the bodies.
At least 100 people were still in hospital last night and nine people, including a pregnant woman, had died on operating tables, intensive care wards or in ambulances. Although several English surnames appeared on the list of those injured, an embassy spokesperson in Madrid said that they had still not found any British people among the victims.
Among those who offered condolences to the Spanish people was President Bush, who has had a close ally in Aznar on issues such as Iraq and terrorism in general.
The president said he expressed “our country’s deepest sympathies toward those who lost their life … I told them we weep with the families. We stand strong with the people of Spain.”
“I appreciate so very much the Spanish government’s fight against terror, their resolute stand terrorist organisations like Eta,” he went on. “The United States stands with them.” – Guardian Unlimited Â