Terrorists attack in Madrid - March 11, 2004

[Ignatius]

170 People Killed in Madrid Explosions!!!!! ?

I'm speechless. This is my homwtown. Fortunately none of my friends/relatives have been hurt but this is by far the biggest terrosit attack the U.E has ever suffered. The city is a total chaos. There's police, fire squad, ambulance, authoirites everywhere...footage on Tv is shocking. ?



MADRID, Spain - Powerful explosions rocked three Madrid train stations Thursday just days before Spain's general elections, killing 170 rush-hour commuters and wounding more than 500 in what officials called the deadliest attack ever by the Basque separatist group ETA.
 ? ?

"This is a massacre," government spokesman Eduardo Zaplana said.


Two bombs exploded around 7:30 a.m. local time in a commuter train arriving at Atocha station, a bustling hub for subway and longer-distance trains in Spain's capital. Single blasts also rocked trains or platforms at two stations on a commuter line leading to Atocha.


"If anyone was in doubt, this shows the true nature of ETA, a Nazi organization which tortures and murders people," said Gaspar Llamazares, leader of the United Left party.


Other Spanish officials and media also blamed ETA. But Arnold Otegi, leader of Batasuna, an outlawed Basque party linked to the armed separatist group, denied it was behind the blasts and suggested "Arab resistance" elements were responsible.


Arnold Otegi told Radio Popular in San Sebastian that ETA always phones in warnings before it attacks. The interior minister said there was no warning before Thursday's attack.



Edit: Edited subject to make it clear that this is an old thread. /jarmo

[jarmo]

Horrible.  

 



/jarmo

[jet]

.

The interior minister said there was no warning before Thursday's attack.

Of course as a rule there's never a warning before terrorist attacks. Anyway it's so horrible, my God! Blood stiffens.  

[Graciela]

ETA normally gives warnings before bombs. Thats why some people is still doubting this was the work of ETA. That and fact that they haven't taken responsibility for the attack yet.

In any case, terrible

[Dot]

Really sad.....my best high school friend lives in Madrid...God don?t let him be on any list please! I hope they catch the people behind this.

[Ignatius]

ETA normally gives warnings before bombs. Thats why some people is still doubting this was the work of ETA. That and fact that they haven't taken responsibility for the attack yet.

 

Exactly. ETA's "modus operandi" doesn't have anything to do with today's attacks. That and the fact the the bombs used don't match any of ETA's.

We are 4 days short of a presidential election. There's no official word yet on who's behind the attacks, however, the Gov't may proclaim ETA  is behind the attacks. It is common knowledge Spain supported the Iraq war and has always stood behind George Bush. However, spanish citizens have never supported the conflict. I guess like pretty much every other european country and citizen as well. During that time, gathering and protestants ( in Spain) against the war were constantly all over the news.

I'm not saying the Gov't s hiding information on purpose, but there is some evidence to be taken into consideration. ETA always proclaims thier attacks. So far, they have denied any involvement on todays' massacre. If these attacks had been perpetrated by any Arabic terrorist organization, this gov't will definitely struggle to be re-elected. ( so far, at least until today, this gov't had big change of winning the election again).

Anyway, everything will clear out as days go by.


My sincerest condolences to the victim's families and friends.

[Cristina]

It is horrible - each time we look at the news the casualty numbers are higher.  

[jarmo]

Bombings on Madrid Trains Kill 190    


By Daniel Trotta

MADRID (Reuters) - Simultaneous bomb blasts ripped through four packed commuter trains in Madrid on Thursday, killing 190 people and injuring 1,247 in Europe's bloodiest attack for more than 15 years.


There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the 10 rush-hour blasts three days before Spain votes in a general election, but Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's center-right government blamed the Basque separatist group ETA.


An Interior Ministry source said the type of explosive was one commonly used by ETA. But the attack triggered fears in world financial markets that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda could be behind it.


Officials brushed aside suggestions that Muslim militants angry at Spain's support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq could have planted the bombs, which tore people including a baby to shreds and left pools of blood on wrecked trains, tracks and buildings.


"It is absolutely clear that the terrorist organization ETA was seeking an attack with wide repercussions," Interior Minister Angel Acebes told a news conference.


U.S. intelligence agencies said it was too early to say who was responsible, but saw the hallmarks of both ETA and al Qaeda.


"There are characteristics of each. You have multiple attacks, multiple explosions in different locations in a short period of time which is very al Qaeda-ish," said one U.S. official, who declined to be identified.


"The train was cut open like a can of tuna," ambulance driver Enrique Sanchez told reporters at the huge Atocha station in central Madrid. "We didn't know who to treat first. There was a lot of blood, a lot of blood."


"TORN TO BITS"


Passenger Ana Maria Mayor's voice cracked as she told reporters: "I saw a baby torn to bits."


The other blasts occurred at El Pozo station in southern Madrid and at Santa Eugenia in the southeast of the capital.


A somber Aznar called on Spaniards, who have protested in their hundreds of thousands against past attacks by ETA, to take to the streets on Friday and vowed the government would arrest the "criminals" behind the bombings.


The radical Basque party Batasuna, accused by the government of being an integral part of ETA, said it "absolutely rejected" the attack and was convinced ETA was not responsible.


ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna) has killed around 850 people since 1968 in its fight for a separate Basque homeland in northwest Spain and southwest France, and has been branded a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union (news - web sites).


Late last month, police arrested two suspected ETA members heading for Madrid with a van containing 500 kg (1,100 lb) of explosives, averting a possible attack.


If the Basque group was responsible for Thursday's bombings, it would be its deadliest attack, far exceeding the 21 people it killed in a supermarket blast in Barcelona in 1987.


It was the biggest death toll in an attack in Europe since December 1988, when a bomb exploded on board a Pan American Boeing 747, bringing it down on the Scottish town of Lockerbie. In all, 270 people died.

   



Aznar called an emergency cabinet meeting and his conservative Popular Party suspended its election campaign, which had focused on a tougher stance against ETA.

Many political analysts said that if ETA was responsible for the attack it would favor the Popular Party in the election because of its hard line against the group.

"If, however, the rumors about al Qaeda gain credence, then things would be perceived in a very different way," said pollster Julian Santamaria. Aznar defied main opposition parties and huge public anti-war sentiment to back the Iraq war.

President Bush joined other leaders in condemning the bombings.

European shares suffered their worst fall of 2004 as the attack spooked investors already worried about economic recovery. U.S. stocks and the dollar fell after the bombings and mixed economic data.

Some experts on ETA said the bombings did not fit the group's usual profile for attacks. ETA has frequently warned in advance of its attacks.

Last month ETA declared a cease-fire limited to the northeastern region of Catalonia.

In October, two audio tapes purportedly from bin Laden said the al Qaeda had the "right to respond at any suitable time and place" against countries backing Washington over Iraq. (Additional reporting by Marta Calleja, Elisabeth O'Leary and Julia Hayley)

http://news.yahoo.com/

--



/jarmo

[AdZ]

How fucking pointless?!

People make me sick.

Rest In Peace anybody that was unfortunate enough to be caught in an argument between a select group of people taken to unnecessary levels.

[Will]

Purported Qaeda Letter Claims Spain Bombings-Paper

DUBAI (Reuters) - A letter purporting to come from Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network claimed responsibility for train bombings in Spain on Thursday, calling them strikes against "crusaders," a London-based Arabic newspaper said.
The Spanish government has said Basque separatists were the main suspect in the bombings of four trains early on Thursday that killed 190 people.

But the country's interior minister held open the possibility of a militant Islamist link on Thursday evening when he told a newspaper conference that a suspect van had been found containing detonators and an Arabic-language tape. He said, however, militant Basque separatists remained chief suspects.

The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper faxed to Reuters' Dubai bureau a copy of a letter purporting to come from the "Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades." The group aligns itself to al Qaeda, blamed by Washington for September 2001 attacks on the United States.

"We have succeeded in infiltrating the heart of crusader Europe and struck one of the bases of the crusader alliance," said the letter which called the attacks "Operation Death Trains."

There was no way of authenticating the letter.

The newspaper received similar letters from the same brigade claiming responsibility on behalf of al Qaeda for a November bombing of two synagogues in Turkey and the August bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

Spain backed the United States in its invasion of Iraq, drawing the opprobrium of militant Islamist groups.

www.reuters.com

[Izzy]

What makes a person plant bombs to kill hundreds of civilians? Its baffling and very distressing.

[The New Fiona Apple]

and I'm sure Bush will do absolutely nothing about it.

[Doc Emmett Brown]

It is common knowledge Spain supported the Iraq war and has always stood behind George Bush. However, spanish citizens have never supported the conflict.

Chinasky, do you know why the Spanish govt supported the war if the Spanish people were against it?   It cant be because of Bush's 'wonderful' oratorical skills...

Was the govt hoping to get some kind of financial deal in the rebuilding of post-war Iraq?

My sincerest condolences to the victim's families and friends.

Mine too  

[Cornell]

and I'm sure Bush will do absolutely nothing about it.

I hope like hell that's true or everyone will be bitching about the US again.  

[Ignatius]

Chinasky, do you know why the Spanish govt supported the war if the Spanish people were against it?   It cant be because of Bush's 'wonderful' oratorical skills...

Funny   there are many theories behind it but if you want to know mine here it comes. Spain, although has been around as a country for nearly 2,000 years, has been a democratic nation for only 26. We are pretty young. Spain has had a major growth over the past 20 years, being ranked now amongst the me top 10 countries in the world.  This conflict ( war in Iraq) was the perfect chance to "hang out" with the big dogs for the first time ( US and UK). Our president ( J.M Aznar) would go to every " secret meeting " along with Tony Blair and George Bush. It was our chance to get the respect and consideration our Gov't thought we deserved. Also, the fact that we have arrested many Al Qaeda terrorists in Spain added more commitment to the cause.

Was the govt hoping to get some kind of financial deal in the rebuilding of post-war Iraq?

No, it's not like we are in need of some financial aid - like I said earlier, Spain is the 8th most powerful country inthe wordl - but at the end it's just a matter of power and power brings more $$$.

[Doc Emmett Brown]

Also, the fact that we have arrested many Al Qaeda terrorists in Spain added more commitment to the cause.

Ahhh - perhaps Spain is causing a lot of grief for Al Qaeda.  Well, if they are behind the attacks, that is very stupid.  I visited the south of Spain last August to see some friends. We went to Granada and Alhambra - 2 beautiful places with Muslim history!

[Dizzy]

and I'm sure Bush will do absolutely nothing about it.

I hope like hell that's true or everyone will be bitching about the US again.  

Excellent answer, and it's the damned truth.  It's a double-edged sword for the Bush administration.  If they acted on this, people would bitch about the U.S. meddling in foreign affairs.  If the U.S. doesn't do anything, people will bitch about the lack of U.S. support.  It's a lose-lose situation.

[Will]

I hope like hell that's true or everyone will be bitching about the US again.  

Those on the planet who are bitching the most (bitching is not the word, hating is more accurate) about the US are the muslim fundamentalists...those reponsible for 9.11, those maybe responsible for 3.11. The sad thing is that, if Al Gay Qaida is behind those attacks, 200 spanish people ae dead because their government has followed the Bush administration in their great War In Iraq. I sincerely hope Al Gay Qaida has nothing to do with it, for the sake of international peace, but we'll know more when elections have passed in Spain.

[D]

i agree, bush cant win here

lets see paris get bombed by terrorist then they would have maybe wished they wouldve supported the united states

terrorism isnt a US problem its a worldwide problem, thats what bush wanted, everyone bans together they can destroy terrorism
bush is called evil, etc etc when he was right from the beginning

i think alot of people owe bush an apology for second guessing his intentions on the war vs terrorism

bush wont do anything about it new fiona? cmon dude please!!!!!!!!!!!! he is already doin something about it, hell we got sadaam bin laden to follow, bush has already done something and has been doing something about it for a long time now, i just wish now maybe he'd get some support!
maybe this will open every countries eyes to how big of a threat this is

what the fuck did spain do to deserve this?

terrorist have no rhyme or reason thats why they are so dangerous

[John Daniels]

i agree, bush cant win here

lets see paris get bombed by terrorist then they would have maybe wished they wouldve supported the united states

terrorism isnt a US problem its a worldwide problem, thats what bush wanted, everyone bans together they can destroy terrorism
bush is called evil, etc etc when he was right from the beginning

i think alot of people owe bush an apology for second guessing his intentions on the war vs terrorism

bush wont do anything about it new fiona? cmon dude please!!!!!!!!!!!! he is already doin something about it, hell we got sadaam bin laden to follow, bush has already done something and has been doing something about it for a long time now, i just wish now maybe he'd get some support!
maybe this will open every countries eyes to how big of a threat this is

what the fuck did spain do to deserve this?

terrorist have no rhyme or reason thats why they are so dangerous

a good post. I agree with that.

I just didn't get that when there were all these people barking at Bush and his war plans against Irak and Saddam. It was needed to do and thanks for him we have now one dictator less. I agree with you all that we really can't win this battle against terrorists but we can fight hard against it and that is what we all should do. With one big heart, if you all know what I'm meaning. Maybe now we understant that this isn't just America's and Bush's problem. This problem concerns the whole world. For Europe, it's time to wake up! We need to co-operate and that way to try to prevent for these kind of disasters happening again.