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.