WHILE Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero welcomed yesterday’s verdicts, the head of an association for families of the victims condemned them.

Defence lawyers for an Egyptian accused of masterminding the 2004 Madrid train bombings and a Moroccan who allegedly planted the explosives demanded their acquittals on the last day of trial for 28 people charged in the terror attacks.

THE start of the trial has stirred emotions for survivors and loved ones of the victims of the biggest terrorist attack in Spanish history.

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