Death toll in Spain rises above 180

More than 180 people have now been confimed dead and more than 1,000 injured after the Spanish rail bombings today.

Thu, 11 Mar, 2004 - 19:21

More than 180 people have now been confirmed dead and more than 1,000 injured after the Spanish rail bombings today.

The series of blasts caused carnage as they ripped through three train stations during rush-hour in the capital Madrid.

Europe’s worst terrorist atrocity since the Lockerbie bombing came just 72 hours before Spain’s general election.

Basque separatists ETA were blamed by the authorities for the “massacre”.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar vowed the “mass murderers” would be defeated.

Sunday’s poll will go ahead but political parties have suspended their campaigning.

The scale of the attack, absence of a phone warning and lack of any claim of responsibility prompted speculation that Islamic terror group al Qaida was responsible.

ETA’s worst previous atrocity killed 21 people in a bomb attack on a Barcelona supermarket in 1987.

Arnold Otegi, a leader of the Basque party linked to ETA which has been banned from the election, suggested today’s attack was the work of “Arab resistance”.

But that was rejected by Spanish Interior Minister Agel Acebes, who cited ETA’s recent thwarted attempts to mount a major attack.

“ETA had been looking for a massacre in Spain. Unfortunately, today it achieved its goal.”

The synchronised strikes began at around 6.30am on a commuter train arriving at Atocha station, a bustling hub for subway, commuter and long-distance trains in Spain’s capital.

In all 10 bombs, detonated by remote control, exploded across the capital’s rail network in just half an hour.

Worst hit was a double-decker train at the El Pozo station, where two bombs killed 70 people, according to fire department inspector Juan Redondo.

“It looked like a platform of death,” he said, adding that one body had to be picked off the station’s roof.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before. The recovery of the bodies was very difficult. We didn’t know what to pick up.”