Author: Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid
Publication: The Daily Telegrahp,
UK
Date: April 20, 2004
The body of a police special forces
officer who died when Islamic terrorists blew themselves up in Madrid was
taken from its grave, mutilated and burnt yesterday.
The coffin and body of special agent
Francisco Javier Torronteras were pulled from the tomb in Madrid Sur cemetery
in Carabanchel and pushed 1,000 yards in a wheelbarrow before being doused
with petrol and set alight. The body was found with a pick driven into
its head and a spade dug into its chest.
Although no motive was immediately
apparent, police speculated that it could be the work of sympathisers of
the Moroccan terrorist group that carried out the train bomb attacks in
the Spanish capital on March 11, killing 192 people and injuring 1,900.
The interior ministry said the act of desecration could have been part
of "an Islamic rite of revenge".
Agent Torronteras, 41, was killed
leading a Special Operations Group team to dislodge terrorists suspected
of the Madrid massacre last month. The seven terrorists blew themselves
up in a flat in the Madrid suburb of Leganes a fortnight ago as police
moved in to arrest them, injuring 11 other policemen. At least three had
been accused of the railway bombings. Police said the attack on the grave
was carried out by at least two people who prised the marble headstone
off with a jemmy.
Security was strengthened at the
cemetery, where the smell of burning still lingered yesterday afternoon.
Police have provisionally charged 18 people over the railway bombings.
4 April 2004: Policeman and three terror suspects die as bomb explosion
rocks Madrid.
