glamour-gal
Mar 11th, 2004, 08:28 AM
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar says Spain will not bend in the face of terrorism after bomb blasts killed at least 173 people in Madrid.
The "mass murderers" would be totally defeated, Mr Aznar vowed.
Co-ordinated blasts hit trains at Atocha rail station in the centre of the capital and two smaller stations.
No group has admitted responsibility but Spain's government blames Basque militant group Eta for the attacks, which come ahead of Sunday's election.
'Criminal killers'
Mr Aznar did not mention Eta by name but his interior minister, Angel Acebes, said there was no doubt the separatist group was responsible.
"Eta had been looking for a massacre in Spain. Unfortunately, today it achieved its goal," Mr Acebes said after an emergency cabinet meeting called to discuss the deadliest terror attack on Spanish soil.
The scene I am seeing is hellish
Witness
Commuters describe chaos
Who is to blame?
There was no warning ahead of the attacks.
There was a total of 10 blasts, Mr Acebes said, and police had defused three other devices hidden in backpacks.
Explosions on board rocked a train as it was entering Atocha station shortly after 0630 GMT, while other blasts went off on a train as it was passing Tellez street just outside the terminal.
"People started to scream and run, some bumping into each other," Juani Fernandez, a civil servant who was on the platform, told the Associated Press.
"I saw people with blood pouring from them, people on the ground."
Where the blasts happened
A 28-year-old man called Mariano, who was travelling on the train, told El Pais newspaper that the carriage behind his had been thrown up in the air.
As people scrambled out, he tried to help the injured.
HAVE YOUR SAY
There was a very big blast in the trains and everything that happened after that has been very confused
Ignacio, Madrid, Spain
Send your eyewitness reports
"I held a girl as she died in my arms," he told the newspaper.
Atocha is a huge rail station used by commuter and inter-city trains, which also has a metro station.
There were similar scenes of destruction and chaos at two smaller commuter stations.
At El Pozo station, a double decker train exploded, killing 70 people.
"I saw legs and arms. I won't forget this ever. I've seen horror," said Enrique Sanchez, an ambulance worker returning from Santa Eugenia station where another train car was blown up.
The authorities say that, so far, 173 people are known to have died.
Several hundred people have been injured and Madrid's hospitals, swamped with casualties, have made an urgent appeal for blood donations.
Mourning
Spain's political parties suspended campaigning for Sunday's poll.
The BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says that, in the absence of an Eta claim of responsibility, there will inevitably be speculation about other potential perpetrators.
Spain's strong support for the US and Britain in the run-up to war with Iraq could make Spain a target in the eyes of shadowy Islamic groups, he says.
MAIN ETA ATTACKS
July 2003: Bomb attacks in Alicante and Benidorm, 13 injured. Further explosion at Santander airport days later
Jan, Feb 2000: Car bombs explode in Madrid and the Basque capital Vitoria
June 1998: Car bomb kills Popular Party councillor Manuel Zamarreno
July 1997: ETA kidnaps and kills Basque councillor Miguel Angel Blanco
June 1987: 21 shoppers are killed in an attack on a Barcelona supermarket
1980: In ETA's bloodiest year, 118 people are killed
Dec 1973: Assassination of Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco
ETA: Key events
Such a suggestion has already been made by the leader of the banned Basque separatist party Batasuna, who denied that Eta could have been behind the attacks.
Arnald Otegi pointed the finger instead at what he called "the Arab resistance".
Mr Acebes, speaking earlier from the scene of the blast at Atocha, said, "Have no doubt, those responsible will be caught and will pay for their crime."
The Basque regional president, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, stressed that Eta does not represent the Basque people.
"When Eta attacks, the Basque heart breaks into a thousand pieces," he said.
The Spanish government has declared three days of mourning for the victims and called on Spaniards to stage rallies on Friday evening to condemn the attacks.
Bomb plots
If it is confirmed as Eta's work, it would be their deadliest attack in more than three decades of armed struggle for independence.
Last month, two suspected Eta members were arrested as they headed to Madrid in a truck laden with explosives.
Emergency numbers for worried relatives
(00 34) 900 200 222
(00 34) 915 767 000
And last December, Spanish authorities said they foiled a Basque separatist plot to blow up a train at a Madrid rail station.
France has stepped up its police presence on its border with Spain in response to Thursday's attacks, the French news agency AFP reports.
Close co-operation between the two countries has led to dozens of arrests of suspected Eta members in southern France in recent years.
The "mass murderers" would be totally defeated, Mr Aznar vowed.
Co-ordinated blasts hit trains at Atocha rail station in the centre of the capital and two smaller stations.
No group has admitted responsibility but Spain's government blames Basque militant group Eta for the attacks, which come ahead of Sunday's election.
'Criminal killers'
Mr Aznar did not mention Eta by name but his interior minister, Angel Acebes, said there was no doubt the separatist group was responsible.
"Eta had been looking for a massacre in Spain. Unfortunately, today it achieved its goal," Mr Acebes said after an emergency cabinet meeting called to discuss the deadliest terror attack on Spanish soil.
The scene I am seeing is hellish
Witness
Commuters describe chaos
Who is to blame?
There was no warning ahead of the attacks.
There was a total of 10 blasts, Mr Acebes said, and police had defused three other devices hidden in backpacks.
Explosions on board rocked a train as it was entering Atocha station shortly after 0630 GMT, while other blasts went off on a train as it was passing Tellez street just outside the terminal.
"People started to scream and run, some bumping into each other," Juani Fernandez, a civil servant who was on the platform, told the Associated Press.
"I saw people with blood pouring from them, people on the ground."
Where the blasts happened
A 28-year-old man called Mariano, who was travelling on the train, told El Pais newspaper that the carriage behind his had been thrown up in the air.
As people scrambled out, he tried to help the injured.
HAVE YOUR SAY
There was a very big blast in the trains and everything that happened after that has been very confused
Ignacio, Madrid, Spain
Send your eyewitness reports
"I held a girl as she died in my arms," he told the newspaper.
Atocha is a huge rail station used by commuter and inter-city trains, which also has a metro station.
There were similar scenes of destruction and chaos at two smaller commuter stations.
At El Pozo station, a double decker train exploded, killing 70 people.
"I saw legs and arms. I won't forget this ever. I've seen horror," said Enrique Sanchez, an ambulance worker returning from Santa Eugenia station where another train car was blown up.
The authorities say that, so far, 173 people are known to have died.
Several hundred people have been injured and Madrid's hospitals, swamped with casualties, have made an urgent appeal for blood donations.
Mourning
Spain's political parties suspended campaigning for Sunday's poll.
The BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says that, in the absence of an Eta claim of responsibility, there will inevitably be speculation about other potential perpetrators.
Spain's strong support for the US and Britain in the run-up to war with Iraq could make Spain a target in the eyes of shadowy Islamic groups, he says.
MAIN ETA ATTACKS
July 2003: Bomb attacks in Alicante and Benidorm, 13 injured. Further explosion at Santander airport days later
Jan, Feb 2000: Car bombs explode in Madrid and the Basque capital Vitoria
June 1998: Car bomb kills Popular Party councillor Manuel Zamarreno
July 1997: ETA kidnaps and kills Basque councillor Miguel Angel Blanco
June 1987: 21 shoppers are killed in an attack on a Barcelona supermarket
1980: In ETA's bloodiest year, 118 people are killed
Dec 1973: Assassination of Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco
ETA: Key events
Such a suggestion has already been made by the leader of the banned Basque separatist party Batasuna, who denied that Eta could have been behind the attacks.
Arnald Otegi pointed the finger instead at what he called "the Arab resistance".
Mr Acebes, speaking earlier from the scene of the blast at Atocha, said, "Have no doubt, those responsible will be caught and will pay for their crime."
The Basque regional president, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, stressed that Eta does not represent the Basque people.
"When Eta attacks, the Basque heart breaks into a thousand pieces," he said.
The Spanish government has declared three days of mourning for the victims and called on Spaniards to stage rallies on Friday evening to condemn the attacks.
Bomb plots
If it is confirmed as Eta's work, it would be their deadliest attack in more than three decades of armed struggle for independence.
Last month, two suspected Eta members were arrested as they headed to Madrid in a truck laden with explosives.
Emergency numbers for worried relatives
(00 34) 900 200 222
(00 34) 915 767 000
And last December, Spanish authorities said they foiled a Basque separatist plot to blow up a train at a Madrid rail station.
France has stepped up its police presence on its border with Spain in response to Thursday's attacks, the French news agency AFP reports.
Close co-operation between the two countries has led to dozens of arrests of suspected Eta members in southern France in recent years.