WORLD NEWS UPDATE. Cont'd.
MADRID,
Spain -- Investigators on Friday hunted for the bombers who blew up four
trains, killing at least 198 people, while Spaniards lit candles and left
flowers outside a station and the country mourned the victims of its worst
terrorist attack ever. Authorities blamed Basque separatists for Thursday's
stunningly well co-ordinated string of 10 explosions on packed commuter
trains, but they also were studying a claim of responsibility by a shadowy
group in the name of al-Qaida. The death toll rose overnight from 192 to 198,
deputy Justice Minister Rafael Alcala said, adding that 84 bodies remain to be
identified. More than 1,400 people were wounded Thursday as panicked commuters
trampled on each other, abandoning their bags and shoes. Train cars were
turned into twisted wrecks and platforms were strewn with corpses. Cell phones
rang unanswered on the bodies of the dead as frantic relatives tried to call
them. Three days of mourning were declared and campaigning was called off for
Spain's general election, but Foreign Minister Ana Palacio pledged that the
vote would be held on Sunday as planned. "This would be the first way to tell
terrorists about our determination to go forward and that they will not
succeed in their wicked cause,'' Palacio told Australia's Channel Nine
television from Spain. A major campaign issue was how to deal with ETA, the
Basque militant group. As day broke Friday, television and radio re-ran
horrific witness accounts of flaming bodies and other carnage on four morning
rush hour trains full of workers and students. Passengers sobbed, lit candles
and left flowers at Madrid's Atocha station, which was the first one hit in
the attacks, and trains had to roll past wreckage left on the track. No
Canadians were known to be among the dead or injured, a Foreign Affairs
spokesman said from Ottawa, but officials were continuing to check. All the
television stations placed a small red and yellow Spanish flag with a black
sash in the corner of the screen. Commuter trains also traveled with black
cloth on the engine cars. Spain's benchmark Ibex-35 stock index dropped two
per cent at the opening bell. The government has called countrywide rallies
for Friday evening, with Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and other senior
officials leading one in Madrid. Millions are expected to attend around the
country. The attack occurred exactly 2{ years after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks in the United States. It also was Europe's worst since the 1988
bombing of a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people.
Photo:
Rescue workers are seen by a bomb damaged passenger train following a number
of explosions in Madrid, Spain, Thursday. (AP/Paul White)
"March 11, 2004, now holds its place in the history of infamy,'' Aznar said Thursday. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Friday he could not confirm whether al-Qaida had a hand in the bombings. There is no specific information'' available that would point to the identities of the perpetrators, he told reporters during a visit to Thailand. "There is a lot of speculation.'' The 10 backpack bombs exploded in a 15-minute span, starting about 7:39 a.m., local time, on trains along 15 kilometres of commuter line from Santa Eugenia to the Atocha terminal, a bustling hub for subway, commuter and long-distance trains just south of the famed Prado Museum. Police also found and detonated three other bombs. "An act of barbaric terrorism has engulfed Spain with profound pain, repulsion and anger,'' King Juan Carlos said on national television.