- MADRID (Reuters) - Basque
separatists killed 173 people in simultaneous blasts that ripped through
packed Madrid trains in the guerrilla group's bloodiest attack in more
than three decades, Spain said on Thursday.
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- There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the
attacks across the Spanish capital three days before a national election,
but Spain insisted the Basque separatist group ETA was to blame.
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- It brushed aside suggestions that Muslim militants angry
at Spain's support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq were behind the attacks.
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- Ten rush-hour blasts at three railway stations tore up
people, including a baby, and left pools of blood in the wreckage of trains,
tracks and buildings.
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- "It is absolutely clear that the terrorist organization
ETA was seeking an attack with wide repercussions," Interior Minister
Angel Acebes told a hastily called news conference, dismissing speculation
that any other group could be involved.
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- Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar vowed the government
would arrest the "criminals" behind the blasts, which ripped
open commuter trains like tuna cans.
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- The Interior Ministry said 173 people died in the explosions
which rocked the central Madrid station of Atocha, the southern Madrid
station of El Pozo and a third at Santa Eugenia.
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- Officials said 600 people were injured.
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- ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna) has killed around 850 people
since 1968 in its fight for a separate Basque homeland in northwest Spain
and southwest France and has been branded a terrorist group by the United
States and the European Union.
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- Late last month, police arrested two suspected ETA members
who were heading for Madrid with a van containing 1,100 lbs of explosives,
averting a possible attack.
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- If the Basque group was responsible for Thursday's bombings,
it would be its deadliest attack, exceeding the 21 people it killed in
a supermarket blast in Barcelona in 1987.
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- A LOT OF BLOOD
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- "I saw a baby torn to bits," said Ana Maria
Mayor, a train passenger, her voice cracking.
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- Ambulance driver Enrique Sanchez said at Atocha station
that many people had facial wounds, amputated limbs and broken bones.
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- "The train was cut open like a can of tuna...We
didn't know who to treat first. There was a lot of blood, a lot of blood."
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- The Spanish government convened an emergency cabinet
meeting and the ruling Popular Party suspended its election campaign, which
had focused on a tougher stance against ETA.
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- European stock markets fell sharply on fears the attack
was the work of Islamic extremists, while bond markets rallied as investors
pushed their cash into safe havens. The September 11 attacks on the U.S.
led to sharp falls in global markets in 2001 and were blamed for deepening
a worldwide economic slump.
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- President Bush joined other leaders in condemning the
bombings which European Parliament President Pat Cox called the "worst
act of terror in memory in any European Union state."
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- It was the biggest death toll in Europe since December
1988 when a Pan American World Airways Boeing 747 crashed on the town of
Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 aboard after a bomb on the plane exploded.
Eleven people in Lockerbie also were killed.
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- Some experts on ETA said the bombings did not fit ETA's
usual profile for attacks. The guerrilla group has frequently phoned ahead
to warn of its plans.
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- Last month ETA declared a cease-fire limited to the northeastern
region of Catalonia but made clear it would pursue the armed struggle in
the rest of the country.
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- In October, two audiotapes purportedly from al Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden said the militant group had the "right to respond
at any suitable time and place" against those countries with forces
in Iraq. Spain was among the countries listed.
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- - Additional reporting by Marta Calleja, Elisabeth O'
Leary and Julia Hayley
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