An Egyptian accused of being a mastermind of the Madrid train bombings today denied that his voice is the one heard in a wiretapped telephone conversation.

AN Egyptian wanted in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings was convicted yesterday on international terrorism charges in Italy and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

A two-year probe into the Madrid train bombings concludes the Islamic terrorists who carried out the blasts were homegrown radicals acting on their own rather than at the behest of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, two senior intelligence officials said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan underlined the need for nations to deny safe havens and logistical support to terrorists in comments he made ahead of a key policy speech he is to deliver today before a world summit on terrorism.

A Spanish judge today was to question an alleged mastermind of the Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people in Spain’s worst terrorist attack.