A 12-kilo bomb hidden in a bag on a busy high-speed rail line in Spain reignited terrorism fears in a country still traumatised by last month’s Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people.

Spain was plunged into further terror crisis today when a bomb was discovered on a high speed rail line near Madrid that was being used by hundreds of people heading on holiday.

A Basque terror leader, wanted for seven killings and a kidnapping, has been captured in south-east France.

Police found a bomb on a high-speed rail line between Madrid and Seville today, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said.

SPAIN’S interior minister named a Moroccan extremist group yesterday as the main focus of the probe into the Madrid terror bombings.

Spaniards went to the polls today in a general election thrown wide open by a reported al-Qaida claim that it staged the Madrid rail bombings to punish the government for supporting the Iraq war.

Investigators probing the Madrid terror blasts are focusing on a stolen white van that contained detonators, and eyewitness reports of three young men getting out of it.

Police probing the Madrid terrorist attacks have found a van with detonators and an Arabic-language tape with Koranic verses – and officials don’t rule out any line of investigation, Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said tonight.

The Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has condemned the attacks in Madrid as "mass murder" and he vowed to hunt down the attackers.

Powerful bombs ripped through three busy Madrid railway stations today just three days before general elections, killing at least 173 rush-hour commuters and wounding more than 600 in Spain’s worst terrorist attack.

Powerful explosions rocked three Madrid rail stations today – just three days before Spain’s general election – killing at least 131 rush-hour commuters and wounding more than 400 in what officials called the deadliest attack ever by the Basque separatist group ETA.

The armed Basque terror group Eta unilaterally declared a ceasefire in Spain’s north-eastern region of Catalonia today.

FRENCH police have arrested a suspected military commander of the armed Basque separatist group ETA who escaped from custody in France almost a year ago.

Police, closing in on militant Basques hiding out in France, have arrested two more suspected members of the armed separatist group ETA, bringing to six the number of suspects arrested over the weekend, officials said today.

EXPLOSIVE and chemical attacks planned for continental Europe and London, were foiled by police raids in two countries yesterday.

THE arrest in France of two suspected leaders of the outlawed Basque separatists ETA significantly weakened the armed group, Spainish justice minister Angel Acebes said yesterday.

Ciaran Giles, SPAIN has activated a costly system of radars and extra-sensitive cameras with night vision along its southern coast in a bid to crack down on trafficking of immigrants and drugs between Morocco and Spain, the government said yesterday.

Spanish police arrested three suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network yesterday, one of whom had videotaped key buildings in the US, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said.