MADRID, 13 March 2004 — Spain was in a state of profound shock, mourning and anger yesterday after the worst terrorist attack in Europe since the Lockerbie bombing killed at least 199 people and injured around 1,400 in the capital, Madrid, on Thursday.
The Spanish government swiftly suggested that ETA, the Basque separatist group which has a 36-year record of terror attacks in Spain, was to blame for the atrocity. But there was confusion over who was responsible after an Arabic tape with Qur’anic quotes was found in a suspect van near Madrid and at least one group claiming links to Al-Qaeda said it had planted the bombs.
Spain’s Interior Minister Angel Acebes Thursday night said ETA remained the main suspect but added that a van with seven detonators and Arabic language tapes with Qur’anic verses had been found in the town of Alcala de Henares outside Madrid. Three of the four trains bombed Thursday originated in Alcala de Henares and one passed through it, the state rail company Renfe said.
The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi said on Thursday night it had received a claim of responsibility for the bombings issued by the Brigade of Abu Hafs Al-Masri in the name of Al-Qaeda.
However, the organization has made similar claims for other terrorist bombings which later proved to be spurious. Last year it claimed responsibility for a major electricity blackout in North America, the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, and the attacks on the British Embassy in Istanbul.
Acebes told a news conference: “The conclusion of this morning that pointed to the terrorist organization (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 center at about 7.30 a.m., tearing gaping holes in the carriages and causing carnage and devastation.
Shortly after the blasts, Spanish intelligence blamed ETA, pointing to explosive material similar to that used by the organization in the past and earlier attempts to blow up trains. ETA yesterday formally denied responsibility.
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 groups such as Al-Qaeda could not be eliminated.
Juergen 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.
Yesterday, a researcher at the Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies said Al-Qaeda could have orchestrated the bombings.
“It is the message Al-Qaeda wanted to send to the United States, basically to say it is still around ... despite the wars in the Afghanistan and Iraq, and that it can still influence the forthcoming US presidential elections,” said Nabil Abdel Fattah.
“Spain is an Al-Qaeda target because it is the closest ally to the United States,” added the author of a book on the network.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar fervently supported the 2003 US-led war on Iraq amid trenchant criticism at home, and Spanish troops are stationed in the country.
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.
Special afternoon editions of the Spanish newspapers saw March 11 rapidly referred to as the country’s equivalent of Sept. 11 and pointed to a similar mood of somber shock spreading across the capital.
“March 11, 2004, has taken its place in the history of infamy,” said Aznar said 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 Thursday that the bombers, who appeared to have placed their bombs in rucksacks, had deliberately staggered the explosions over several minutes to increase casualties.
