THE SUN
Madrid Trains Bombings.
The Madrid train bombings also known in Spain as 11-M. Were nearly simultaneous, coordinated bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain on the morning of 11 March 2004 , three days before Spain's general elections and two and a half years after the September 11 attacks in the United States. The explosions killed 191 people and wounded 1.800. The official investigation by theSpanish judiciary found that the attacks were directed by an al-Qaeda inspired terrorist cell although no direct al-Qaeda participation has been established.
Though they had no role in the planning or implementation, the Spanish
miners who sold the explosives to the terrorists were also arrested.
Controversy regarding the handling and representation of the bombings by the government arose, with Spain's two main political parties (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Partido Popular (PP)), accusing each other of concealing or distorting evidence for electoral reasons. The bombings occurred three days before general elections in which incumbent José María Aznar's PP was defeated.Immediately after the bombing, leaders of the PP claimed evidence indicating the Basque separatist organization ETA was responsible for the bombings,while Islamist responsibility would have had the opposite effect,as it would have been seen as a consequence of the PP government taking Spain into the Iraq War, a policy extremely unpopular with Spaniards.
Nationwide demonstrations and protests followed the attacks.
The predominant view among political analysts is that the Aznar
administration lost the general elections as a result of the handling
and representation of the terrorist attacks, rather than because of the
bombings per se.
After 21 months of investigation, judge Juan del Olmo ruled Moroccan national Jamal Zougam guilty of carrying out the attack.
The September 2007 sentence established no known mastermind nor direct al-Qaeda link.
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