Spain Announces Five Arrests in Bombings

Reuters, AP | 3/13/04

[thoughtomator]

Admin Moderator update:

Spain Announces Five Arrests in Bombings

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Spain's interior minister Saturday announced the arrest of five suspects in the Madrid bombings, including three Moroccans.

The other two suspects had Indian passports, a ministry spokesman said.

The five were arrested in connection with a cell phone inside an explosives-packed gym bag found on one of the bombed commuter trains.

The suspects ``could be related to Moroccan extremist groups,'' the minister said. ``But we should not rule out anything. Police are still investigating all avenues. This opens an important avenue.''

The 10 bombings on Thursday, which killed 200 people on Madrid commuter trains, amounted to the worst terror attack in Spanish history.

Families began burying their dead Saturday as a cold drizzle fell on Madrid on the eve of parliamentary elections.

In a show of national unity, massive crowds gathered in Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and even in Spain's Canary Islands off western Africa on Friday night to protest the attack. State TV said nationwide, more than 11 million marched - one-quarter of Spain's 42 million people.

In Madrid, black bows of mourning dotted the city, on shop windows, on flags draped from balconies, and on lapels.

Madrid's biggest funeral home, Tanatorio Sur, was so overcrowded that some coffins were placed in a room normally used for staff meetings. Outside, hearses carried coffins in and out all morning.

Investigators were focusing on a stolen white van found in the town of Alcala de Henares outside Madrid hours after the blasts. Police found detonators and an Arabic-language cassette tape with Quranic verses inside. Alcala de Henares is the town where three of the four bombed trains originated.

A doorman told police he saw three young men carrying knapsacks toward the station in Alcala de Henares, a senior police official said Saturday on condition of anonymity. Officials have said the bombs used in the train attacks were concealed in knapsacks.

The doorman saw the men get out of the van and ``walk toward the train carrying backpacks and he was struck by the fact that they were wearing ski masks when the weather was not suited for that kind of clothing,'' the official said.

``It is one of the main focuses of the investigation,'' the official said. ``It is very important.''

A London-based Arabic newspaper also received a claim of responsibility in al-Qaida's name that called the attack ``part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America's ally in its war against Islam.''

The attack's lethal coordination and timing - 10 explosions within 15 minutes - suggested al-Qaida. But the compressed dynamite used in the backpack bombs is an explosive favored by the Basque separatist group ETA.

ETA issued an apparently unprecedented denial Friday, saying it had nothing to do with the bombings. It has claimed responsibility for more than 800 deaths since 1968 in its fight for an independent state in the northern Basque region.

Debate on who is behind the attacks could sway voters in Sunday's election.

If ETA is deemed responsible, that could boost support for Mariano Rajoy, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's hand-picked candidate to succeed him as prime minister. Both have supported a crackdown on ETA, ruling out talks and backing a ban on ETA's political wing, Batasuna.

However, if Thursday's bombings are seen by voters as the work of al-Qaida, that could draw their attention to Aznar's vastly unpopular decision to endorse the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and deploy Spanish troops there.

Opinion polls have put Rajoy 3-5 percentage points ahead of Socialist candidate Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. No surveys have been released since the attacks.

Aznar, in power since 1996, is honoring a pledge not to seek a third term, saying he wants renewal in government and his party.

Spanish radio station Cadena Ser broadcast a 12-second recording of an unidentified woman who had called a colleague's voice mail after an initial blast on a train at the Atocha station.

The woman, who survived, was in the process of fleeing as she frantically says: ``I'm in Atocha. There's a bomb on the train! We had to -'' and then two more blasts are heard.

Spain arrests 3 Moroccans, 2 Indians in bomb probe

MADRID, March 13 (Reuters) - Spain's Interior Minister Angel Acebes said on Saturday that three Moroccans and two Indians had been arrested in Madrid as part of the investigation into train bombings that killed 200 people three days ago.

Also, two Spaniards of Indian origin were giving statements to police, Acebes said at a news conference.

Spain Announces Five Arrests in Bombings

[VOA]

proud to give an early bump!
Go get 'em Spain!

[Crazieman]

[billorites]

Not sure what this will mean for the election tomorrow.

CW was that Al Queda involvement would favor the Socialists at the polls.

[thoughtomator]

Why would it favor socialists?

[NautiNurse]

Fast action! Interesting that the perps didn't martyr themselves.

WTG Spain!!!

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

starts with four.....I wonder how high it will go

[JOHANNES801]

Muslims,I am shocked I tell you,shocked.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Surely this is a big misunderstanding and the members of the religion of peace (TM) will be cleared. Ever notice that there weren't any Jews on the train?

Time to stop asking myself what the leftist response would be...

[elhombrelibre]

Socialist want to appease terrorism, not support war against it. Part of their decadent logic is that the victims had it random violence coming for the Goverment's supporting the removal of the despot Saddam.

[petercooper]

how dare they identify them as "muslims"

it's the religion of peace, you know.

[billorites]

Reading El Mundo is says that four arabs were found with a prepaid phone card linked to one of the unexploded backpack bombs.

[livius]

They've arrested 10 Moroccans.

"...la detención de 10 marroquíes posiblemente relacionados con el atentado del pasado jueves. Según las causas comentadas por los detenidos, el atentado se realizó por el apoyo español en la guerra de Irak..."

...the arrest of 10 Moroccans possibly related to Thursday's attack. According to those arrested, the attack was carried out because of Spanish support for the war in Iraq.

[dep]

several reasons. first, the government's view has been that it's an internal matter involving the basques. second, that the government has not protected the country from al qaeda. third, by going along with the war on terror, the government has made spain a target.

[Rams82]

I wonder if the Spanish will still be blaming ETA after this.

[elhombrelibre]

I hope your "Jews on the train" was some sardonic wit. Jews get killed all the time by these Islamic nihilistic terrrorist.

[July 4th]

Islam strikes again.

[Rams82]

Where is that from?

[livius]

I think this news means the Socialists will win tomorrow, unless the Spanish have more cojones than I thought.

[Alberta's Child]

Because the Socialists were opposed to Spain's involvement in Iraq in the first place.

Call me cynical, but I suspect that this is why the Spanish government was so quick to blame ETA for this.

On a separate note, I'm struck by a conversation I had last year with a close friend of mine from a moderate Islamic country -- which introduces the intriguing possibility that these Muslims have nothing to do with al-Qaeda.

I'll post more as further details emerge.

[livius]

Cadena Cope, Spanish radio station.

[FreeAtlanta]

On going thought is that the surrenderous left will gain the upper hand, if this was a revenge terrorist act against Spain for helping the cause of freedom and justice. I despise socialist/communist/left-wing/progressive cheese eating surrender monkeys.

[thoughtomator]

That radical, murderous Islam needs no leadership, but in fact is a self-propogating meme?

[Diddle E. Squat]

He was being sarcastic. That was a reference to one of the idiotic internet lies spread by Islamicists and conspiracy wackos after 911, claiming that Jews had not shown up to work that day, having been warned by the Mossad, who was really behind the attacks. Or variations on such nonsense.

[Lexington Green]

Spain has a simple choice to make with this election.... -- Fight or Surrender?

I think they fight.

[Peach]

Over here. (Other thread was a duplicate).

2:10 EST: Fox announces that Spain is ready to have a press conference. Four Muslims have been arrested for the bombings.

[hellinahandcart]

Reading El Mundo is says that four arabs were found with a prepaid phone card linked to one of the unexploded backpack bombs.

D'oh! Details...

[Rams82]

I am baffled on why some people still believe this is ETA. They don't usually attack civilians. There was no warning. They have denied it. The Arabic tapes in the van. The claim of responsibility. ETc..

[Crazieman]

[tiamat]

Bump!

[VOA]

Reading El Mundo is says that four arabs were found with a prepaid phone card linked
to one of the unexploded backpack bombs.

Love those Islamofacists...
smart enough to use the tools of The Great Satan for murder...
too dumb to either invent them or truly understand how they work.

I hope our Spanish brothers-in-arms got the right guys.
Live by the cell-phone, die by the cell-phone, you cowardly murdering heartless thugs!

[livius]

I'll bet that ETA was connected, but Spain blamed ETA alone initially because it has always been responsible for such things in the past, and because there have been a number of arrests of ETA members transporting bombs and explosive towards Madrid.

The fact that it's AQ is probably going to mean that Spain will capitulate and elect appeasement-oriented Socialists tomorrow. I hope proof of ETA's involvement (and I'm certain there was some) can be turned up quickly.

[tdadams]

Anyone got a vat of bacon grease handy?

[Reader of news]

BREAKING NEWS - Spanish Minister Aceves has just announced the arrest of 3 citizens of Morroco and 2 citizens of India.

[freedumb2003]

hope your "Jews on the train" was some sardonic wit

You didn't hear? All Jews in Spain got a call telling them not to take the train on 3/11. Clearly, the Zonists are hoping to pin this on peace-lovin Muslims.

[Mamzelle]

One thing that made me doubt that it was AQ was that there was no immediate news that it was suicide-managed.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

It was. Supposedly, there are never any Jews murdered in these attacks. Leftist conspiracy kooks always pull that anytime there's an attack. I'm surprised I haven't heard it yet...

[livius]

NOt four but TEN Moroccans have been arrested.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Yes, America, cast your votes for John Kerry and the "traitor" Democrat Party. They will protect American innocents from the ravages and death brought upon the USA by Muslim terrorists! (NOT!) Vote Democrat and seal your own and your children's doom from this Earth!

[Alberta's Child]

That radical, murderous Islam needs no leadership, but in fact is a self-propogating meme?

No. I'm becoming more convinced by the day that "radical, murderous Islam" is nothing more than a front for something that has nothing to do with religion.

[elhombrelibre]

I've heard that lie too. These terrorist respect no religion or ethnic group. The sooner we all know it the better. I remember Christopher Hitchens saying, "Why is it so many people want to say what the terrorist want? Why do they then go on to tell us what the terrorist want (Spain out of Iraq, etc.)?" It's almost as sick as the actual terrorist when main stream political parties try to piggy back on terrorism's back.

[Peach]

Three Morocans and 1 Indian.

Now up to five people arrested, although they didn't give the nationality of the other one.

[VOA]

Muslims,I am shocked I tell you,shocked.

So many lefties/socialists remind me of that policeman (played by Claude Rains).
Officious, with a veneer of honorable authority, while being transparently corrupt.

[Reader of news]

Source: http://www.elmundo.es

[OXENinFLA]

TEN?!?!

FNC is sayin 5 right now.

[moonman]

7 total: 3 morrocians

[mathluv]

Now Fox says 5 arrested.

[bogdanPolska12]

Already 5 people got arrested. Watching FNC now.