Terrorists bomb trains in Madrid
On this day in 2004 191 people are killed and nearly 2000are injured when 10 bombs explode on four trains in three Madrid-area train stations during a busy morning rush hour.The bombs were later found to have been detonated by mobile phones.The attacks the deadliest against civilians on European soil since the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing were initially suspected to be the work of the Basque separatist militant group ETA.This was soon proved incorrect as evidence mounted against an extreme Islamist militant group loosely tied to but thought to be working in the name of al-Qaida.Investigators believe that all of the blasts were caused by improvised explosive devices that were packed in backpacks and brought aboard the trains.
The terrorists seem to have targeted Madrids Atocha Station at or near which seven of the bombs were detonated.The other bombs were detonated aboard trains near the El Poso del Tio Raimundo and Santa Eugenia stations most likely because of delays in the trains journeys on their way to Atocha.Three other bombs did not detonate as planned and were later found intact.Many in Spain and around the world saw the attacks as retaliation for Spains participation in the war in Iraq where about 1400 Spanish soldiers were stationed at the time.
The attacks took place two days before a major Spanish election in which anti-war Socialists swept to power.The new government led by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero removed Spanish troops from Iraq with the last leaving the country in May 2004.A second bombing of a track of the high-speed AVE train was attempted on April 2 but was unsuccessful.The next day Spanish police linked the occupants of an apartment in Leganes south of Madrid to the attacks.
In the ensuing raid seven suspects killed themselves and one Spanish special forces agent by setting off bombs in the apartment to avoid capture by the authorities.One other bomber is believed to have been killed in the train bombings and 29 were arrested.After a five-month-long trial in 2007 21 people were convicted although five of them including Rabei Osman the alleged ringleader were later acquitted.In memory of the victims of the March 11 bombings a memorial forest of olive and cypress trees was planted at the El Retiro park in Madrid near the Atocha railway station.
