Spain launched a sombre remembrance of the Madrid terror bombings on today’s second anniversary of the attacks, as a delegation from Morocco – home to many of the suspects in the case – observed a few minutes of silence at a rail station targeted in the massacre.

An alleged ringleader of the March 2004 Madrid bombings appeared in a Milan court today at the scheduled start of his trial on charges of international terrorism and plotting another attack in an undisclosed location.

Police freed a Moroccan hostage and arrested seven suspected members of a kidnapping ring, three of them relatives of a reputed ringleader of the Madrid bombings, the Interior Ministry said today.

A prime suspect in last year’s train bombings in Madrid took the stand today at the trial of 24 suspected al-Qaida members and denied he had anything but a business relationship with their accused leader, who allegedly helped plot the September 11 attacks in the US

SPANISH police believe a top al-Qaida operative in Europe put two key suspects in the Madrid bombings in contact with each other and gave the planned attack the blessing of the organisation, a newspaper reported yesterday.

A terrorist bombing on the scale of the Madrid attacks was averted in the Philippines with the arrests of four Abu Sayyaf members and the confiscation of 380 pounds of TNT, the president said in Manila.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is due to attend a memorial service in Spain later today for the victims of the Madrid bombings.

Police suspect that at least six Moroccans took part in the Madrid train bombings as the growing international investigation increasingly focused on Islamic militants possibly linked to al-Qaida.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has said much of his talks with US president, George Bush, today will concentrate on the Madrid bombings.