More than 100 hurt in Madrid bomb attack

The injury toll from the Madrid bomb blast is now at 100.

The car bomb - which has been blamed on Basque terrorists - rocked Madrid during morning rush-hour today.

Spanish Government spokesman Pio Cabanillas said the blast was powerful enough to have caused a ‘‘real massacre.’’

Within an hour of the explosion, police arrested a man and woman suspected of carrying out the attack.

Both have links to Eta, the Basque separatist group which has killed more than 800 people in a 33 year campaign for independence

The bomb exploded at 9:08 am (0808 Irish time), mangling more than a dozen cars and shattering windows along the street.

Ninety nine victims were treated for injuries, almost all for cuts and shock.

By midday, only four people remained in hospital.

The bomb went off on Corazon de Maria street - one of the busiest areas in the Spanish capital with many office and residential buildings.

At the time of the blast, thousands of people were heading to work and school in the area.

Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy said the bombers’ target appeared to be Juan Junquera, secretary general of the government’s scientific policy department, whose official car was passing by when the bomb went off.

Junquera, a former interior and defence ministry official, was slightly injured.

The arrests were made after police received a phone call from a local who reported seeing two suspicious individuals in the area.

Rajoy said when they were detained, they were carrying explosives, two 9 mm Parabellum handguns - Eta favourites - wigs and false identification cards.