Author: Neil Mackay, Marion McKeone
in Washington and James Cusick in Madrid
Publication: www.sundayherald.com
Date: March 14, 2004
URL: http://www.sundayherald.com/40579
Furious protesters chant: 'Our dead,
your war'
Three Moroccans and two Indians
have been arrested in Spain for the Madrid train bombings on
Thursday. All five are thought
to be linked to two militant Islamic groups which were named as the Moroccan
Islamic Combatant Group and Salafia Jihadi.
The arrests came as 5000 angry demonstrators
picketed the offices of the ruling Popular Party shouting "lies" and other
slogans claiming that Prime Minister José María Aznar had
covered up the truth about the atrocity by blaming the Basque separatist
group ETA ahead of today's general election.
The arrests were confirmed by the
interior minister, Angel Acebes, who said the five were arrested in connection
with pay-as-you-go mobile phone cards found in a "backpack bomb" that the
police recovered from one of the bombed trains. Acebes, who had blamed
ETA within hours of the atrocity, said last night: "Sixty hours after the
brutal attack, we now have five detentions."
American intelligence agencies believed
all along that al-Qaeda was behind the Madrid bombings but deferred to
the Spanish government's claims that ETA was responsible, pending the general
election. Both FBI and CIA agents are in Madrid assisting the authorities.
Spain's National Intelligence Centre
(CNI) is also said to be "99% certain" that Muslim extremists and not ETA
were responsible for the attacks, according to a left-wing Spanish radio
station. Aznar's party faces an angry backlash today with many voters now
convinced he lied about al-Qaeda's involvement fearing that the Spanish
public would blame him for the loss of life. Nearly 90% of all Spaniards
had been against Aznar supporting the war in Iraq and many now see the
Madrid bombings as pay-back.
Aznar is seen in the Arab world
as the third most significant player in the so-called "coalition of the
willing". Spain has sent 1300 troops to Iraq.
If ETA had been responsible for
the attacks, many voters would have flocked to the Popular Party because
of Aznar's eight-year security crackdown on the Basque terror group.
ETA has denied any involvement in
the attacks, and an Islamic extremist organisation earlier claimed the
atrocity in the name of al-Qaeda. A van linked to the attacks was found
to contain Koranic verses and detonators.
Last night some 3000 people staged
a spontaneous demonstration outside the Popular Party's offices in Madrid
chanting "We want the truth before voting", "Who did it?", "Our dead, your
war" "No more cover-ups" and "Aznar, because of you, we all pay". Some
demonstrators were beaten by police in riot gear.
The Popular Party's Mariano Rajoy
- who will be the new prime minister if Aznar's party wins the election
after he decided to step down - denied the government withheld information,
saying: "I give my word of honour that I do not know more than the rest
of the Spanish people."
Opposition Socialist Party leaders
have accused the government of hiding al-Qaeda's role. "Whoever toys with
the truth at a time of so much pain is doing something very grave," said
senior Socialist Party official José Blanco.
Al-Qaeda has long been known to
have a number of sleeper cells in Spain. The country has jailed some two
dozen al-Qaeda suspects, including eight men thought to have helped plan
the September 11, 2001, attacks. Suspects in last May's Casablanca bombings
and a 2002 synagogue bombing in Tunisia were also arrested in Spain.
The El Pais newspaper, which has
strongly criticised Aznar's government, said that Spain's foreign minister,
Ana Palacio, had written to ambassadors within hours of the explosions,
saying in a memo: "You
should use any opportunity to confirm
ETA's responsibility for these brutal attacks, thus helping to dissipate
any type of doubt that certain interested parties may want to promote."
As a result of the memo, there was
a clash at the United Nations between a senior Spanish diplomat and the
Russian ambassador. The Russian was reluctant to approve a resolution condemning
Eta, arguing that it was impossible to prove responsibility for a terrorist
act on the day it was committed.
Spanish anti-terrorism officials
have questioned the government's insistence on blaming Eta despite evidence
suggesting that al-Qaeda was behind the attacks.
Norway's Defence Research Establishment
also uncovered documents linking al-Qaeda to the attacks. The documents
said: "We must make use of the proximity to the elections in Spain in March
next year. Spain can stand a maximum of two or three attacks before they
will withdraw from Iraq."
The document identifies Spain as
the weakest link in the Coalition of the Willing and says that if Spain
withdrew then the other partners would follow like "pieces of domino".
Bin Laden has previously threatened vengeance against Spain.
British intelligence was aware that
al-Qaeda was planning to use 'train bombs' at least three months ago. Intelligence
sources say continental targets were most at risk, particularly the high-speed
Paris-Lyon TGV.
Both US and UK intelligence agencies
suspected from the end of last year that al-Qaeda wanted to blow up a train
as it went through a station. The bombs on the four trains that were attacked
in Madrid were all meant to detonate as they converged on one station,
bringing down the roof and killing thousands.
European and Middle Eastern intelligence
agencies say that al-Qaeda has recruited thousands of men in countries
like Germany, France and the UK. They are said to have received high-grade
military training in firearms and explosives.