Policeman killed in Madrid blast

A policeman was killed and seven people injured in an explosion during an anti-terrorist operation in a town south of Madrid tonight.

Police had cordoned off an area in the town of Leganes hunting for several suspects wanted for questioning in connection with the March 11 Madrid railway bombings.

Police carried out a controlled explosion.

Luis Serrano, spokesman for the Madrid Regional Emergency Service, confirmed that one 50-year-old man was killed in an explosion in a building where the suspects were believed to be hiding. He said seven people were slightly injured.

The Spanish news agency Efe said the man killed was a policeman.

Low-flying helicopters scanned the area with searchlights and told residents to remain indoors. Others were evacuated.

Interior Ministry spokesman Richard Ibanez said police in Leganes were looking for “several” suspects in an anti-terrorist operation connected to the bombings, which killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800.

He could not say how many suspects there were, or their importance or connection to the attacks.

Spain has charged 15 people over the bombings on four commuter trains, Spain’s worst terror attack. The government has said its investigation is focused on the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which has ties to the al-Qaida network.

Six are charged with mass murder, and nine are accused of collaborating with or belonging to a terrorist organisation. Eleven of the 15 charged are Moroccan.

Judge Juan del Olmo, the investigating magistrate, has issued international arrest warrants for five Moroccans and a Tunisian, identified as Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet and described as the leader of the group suspected of carrying out the attacks.