Spain stops to remember bomb tragedy

SPANIARDS lit candles, laid flowers and observed a long silence yesterday to mark the first anniversary of the country's worst terror attack, when 10 bombs ripped through commuter trains, killing 191 and wounding more than 1,500.

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia led government leaders and other dignitaries during the main memorial - a silent, five-minute vigil at noon, inaugurating a grove of 192 olive and cypress trees, one for each person killed last March 11 and one for a policeman killed when Islamic militant suspects seeking to avoid arrest blew themselves up. The grove in Madrid's main park has been named the 'Forest of the Absent'.

After the vigil, a cellist played Song of the Birds by Pablo Casals, a piece the late Spanish cellist had written in dedication to peace.

As the dignitaries stood in grim silence, the country also paused in quiet remembrance. Trains made unscheduled stops at stations. Construction workers put down their tools. Office workers poured onto the streets.

Thousands stretched as far as the eye could see along Paseo de la Castellana, Madrid's main north-south artery, grieving over an attack that cut across nationality, killing immigrants from Ecuador to Ukraine, from France to the Philippines.

At Atocha train station, a crowd of at least 1,000 people broke into applause after observing the five-minute silence. Clapping after a funeral is a common Spanish way of paying one's respects. Attached to a railing overlooking the platform that was bombed was a red rose with a note saying: "For you, my love, who are no longer with me."

Earlier, at the rail stations targeted in the attack, people huddled together and shed tears as memories of the blasts returned. Bells at hundreds of churches around Madrid tolled for five minutes beginning at 7.37am, when the first of 10 dynamite-loaded backpacks detonated on four rush-hour trains.

At El Pozo, an emergency medical worker who attended to the dying the day of the attack, came to pay his respects.

"I will never forget what happened here," said the 42-year-old worker, who identified himself only as Paco. "Finding pieces of bodies on the platform. The image of a boy's head on a bench."

Juana Leal, who lost her husband in the El Pozo blast, said she got up early yesterday to ride a train at the same time he did a year ago. "He never came back. I am bringing him flowers," she said.

On a train following the same route as the four that were bombed last year, passengers rode in silence. A newspaper handed out to commuters featured a black front page with a picture of a candle. "It is hard to take the train today. You think about that day. It all comes back," said Pilar Almena, a 48-year-old chef.

Militants claimed responsibility for the attacks in videotapes, saying they were retaliating on al-Qaida's behalf for the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq.

Socialists who opposed the war ousted the ruling conservatives in elections held three days later, with many voters accusing then Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of having made Spain a target for al-Qaida by backing the US-led invasion. Mr Aznar was also accused of lying to save the election by blaming Basque separatist group ETA for the attacks, even after evidence of an Islamic link emerged.

The 22 people jailed over the bombings face preliminary charges of terrorism or mass murder. Fifty-two detainees have been released but are still considered suspects. A trial is not expected until late this year at the earliest.