Spain remembers Madrid bombings victims

Spain launched a sombre remembrance of the Madrid terror bombings on today’s second anniversary of the attacks, as a delegation from Morocco – home to many of the suspects in the case – observed a few minutes of silence at a rail station targeted in the massacre.

The 70-member delegation, called the Moroccan Caravan for Peace and Solidarity, set out from Morocco in buses on March 5, stopping in several Spanish cities before arriving at Atocha train station on a cold, blustery morning.

Members held a red Moroccan flag next to the red-and-yellow one of Spain as they stood in silence inside the station, one of four sites where 10 backpack bombs exploded exactly two years ago, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,500.

Many of the 24 suspects jailed in connection with the massacre are from Morocco.

“We want to express our solidarity and support for the Spanish people and show that the Moroccan people are one of peace and against terrorism,” said Mohamed Boujida, a delegation member. He noted that Morocco itself was hit by Islamic terrorists in May 2003 with suicide attacks that killed 45 people, including the bombers.

The delegation deposited a wreath of red and white roses and carnations inside the station and wrote messages of condolence on a large-screen computer terminal set up at a memorial site inside the building.

The ceremony was the first of several scheduled for a day in which the normally festive atmosphere of a weekend in Spain will be replaced by heartbreaking memories of the morning of March 11, 2004.

The bombs, loaded with dynamite and shrapnel, turned crowded commuter trains into a maelstrom of bodies and body parts, twisted metal and wailing sirens.

“That day we all got a lesson in what is really important in life,” said Bartolome Gonzalez, mayor of Alcala de Henares, a town through which all four of the doomed trains passed and home to 27 of those killed in the attacks.

Ceremonies were planned at other stations also hit by suspected Islamic terrorists who claimed to have acted on al Qaida’s behalf.

Christians, Muslims and Jews were to join together for an ecumenical prayer service outside Atocha station, praying in unison for peace.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is to attend a noontime wreath-laying ceremony, to be followed by five minutes of silence at the Forest of Remembrance – a grove of 192 olive and cypress trees set up at a Madrid park in memory of the bombing victims. In addition to the 191 killed on the trains, a special forces officer died three weeks later while trying to arrest suspects in the case.

No one has been tried or even formally charged over the attack, but the judge leading the investigation said this week he expected to hand down the first indictments by April 10.