Two more charged over Madrid bombings

A Spanish judge charged two more suspects in the Madrid railway bombings early today, bringing the total number of people charged in the case to 14, court officials said.

Judge Juan del Olmo released three other people after hours of questioning at the National Court.

Shortly after the hearing ended, an investigator said another suspect had been arrested, but gave no details.

Del Olmo charged Basel Ghayoun, a Syrian, with mass murder and belonging to a terrorist organisation.

Hamed Ahmidam, a Moroccan, was charged with collaborating with a terrorist organisation and a drug charge unrelated to the March 11 bombings that killed at least 190 people and injured more than 1,800.

A report by Spanish news agencies that a 191st victim had died in a Madrid hospital could not immediately be confirmed.

Court officials said two witnesses, including one who was injured in the attack, had recognized Ghayoun on one of the commuter trains that were bombed.

Both of the accused claimed they were innocent, but acknowledged they knew some of the other suspects being held in connection with the attack, including prime suspect Jamal Zougam, court officials said.

The charges stop short of a formal indictment but suggest that the court has strong evidence against the men. They can be jailed for up to two years while investigators gather more evidence.

Of the 22 people arrested since the train bombings, 14 have been charged and a total of six have been released.

A suspect, whose arrest was announced Friday, has not been identified and has yet to appear before the court.

Today, Del Olmo released Ahmidam’s brother Said Ahmidam Mohammed Almallah Dabas, a Spanish citizen of Syrian descent and Fouad Almorabit, also from Morocco.

Court officials said Hamed Ahmidam had lived in a rural house outside Madrid where investigators believe the attackers prepared the explosives and stuffed them into backpacks.

A Morocco-based terrorist cell with possible links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network and al-Qaida itself are the main focus of suspicion in Spain’s worst terrorist attack.

Investigators have analysed a videotape in which a man claiming to speak on behalf of al-Qaida said the group carried out the Madrid attack in reprisal for Spain’s backing of the US-led war in Iraq.

Three days after the bombings, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar’s conservative government was defeated in general elections by the anti-war Socialists.

Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pledged to remove Spain’s 1,300 soldiers from Iraq unless the UN takes charge of the occupation.

Zapatero says both the war and occupation are illegal because they lack a UN mandate.

Zapatero’s campaign manager, Jose Blanco, told Spanish National Radio yesterday that plans to withdraw troops from Iraq by June 30 remain in place unless the occupation gets a UN mandate.