Posted on 03/12/2004 5:53:26 PM PST by HAL9000
MADRID, Spain - Armed with what they said was new evidence, Spanish officials remained adamant Friday that they believe that the Basque separatist group ETA, not the al-Qaida terrorist network, was behind the morning rush-hour train bombings that rocked this capital city Thursday.
With the death toll nearing 200 and dozens of the wounded still in critical condition, Interior Minister Angel Acebes announced Friday evening that he was more convinced than ever that ETA was to blame for the 10 explosions that ripped through three Madrid commuter rail stations just as people were disembarking on their way to work.
Acebes said the bombs consisted of satchels filled with 20 to 30 pounds of dynamite, set off by a cell phone. He said the dynamite chemically matched 1,100 pounds of explosives seized in February from an ETA van heading toward Madrid, and that the satchel and cell phone setup matched that found on two ETA members when they were arrested at a northern Madrid commuter rail station on Christmas Eve.
"This explosion had a very similar modus operandi used by the terrorist group ETA," he said.
Millions of Spaniards filled the streets of Madrid and other major cities Friday in tribute to the dead and injured and to protest the attacks. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar marched in front of one group in Madrid, and columns of demonstrators stretched for miles.
Spanish flags with black banners hung from light poles and balconies throughout the capital.
The outpouring of grief and anger was unprecedented. Some reports said nearly a quarter of Spain's 50 million people had participated in the marches, including an estimated 2.5 million in Madrid.
The crowds were so densely packed in Madrid that it was impossible to move against the tide. Anger was palpable.
"Snakes," "assassins" and "murderers" were among the insults hurled in unison by hundreds of demonstrators at a time. Placards proclaimed that "A people united will never be defeated" and "ETA No."
If the crowd seemed united in its denunciation of ETA, there was still much discussion from Washington to Madrid about responsibility for the attacks.
A caller claiming to represent ETA denied that the group had been involved in the attack. Journalists here said ETA never had rejected responsibility for an attack before.
In Washington, the FBI said it hadn't dispatched any agents to Spain and wouldn't do so unless the Spanish government requested them. No Americans died in the blasts, though the dead included citizens of at least 11 countries.
Aznar offered citizenship to all illegal residents of Spain whose relatives were killed in the blasts. He said the government thought they would be essential to identify the final 70 bodies at the city's makeshift morgue. The dead are thought to be illegal immigrants whose relatives are afraid of being deported if they come to claim the bodies.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he'd been briefed on the attacks and that American officials were interested in any similarities to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
"The patterns - multiple sites, multiple stations," Frist said. "Very much like having multiple places here in this country."
U.S. officials said the evidence cut both ways. Asa Hutchinson, the Homeland Security Department's undersecretary of borders and transportation, said American intelligence agencies had detected no spike in "chatter" among al-Qaida-related groups before the attacks. Other U.S. officials stressed that the group that claimed responsibility for the bombings, the Abu Hafs al Masri Brigades, is thought to exist in name only and has made implausible claims of responsibility before.
Hutchinson also said, however, that the pattern of the attacks required considering al-Qaida's involvement.
"One of the things that gives you cause for concern is the level of complexity in the attack and the coordination and the simultaneous nature of it, which all is a characteristic of the capability and style of al-Qaida," he said. "That's not to say that means it's them, but that certainly gives you concern."
Even in Madrid, there were open doubts about the government's insistence that ETA was behind the attacks.
Many Spaniards, particularly those who support the Socialist Party in Sunday's elections, suggested that Aznar's government might not be willing to disclose an al-Qaida link until after the vote, for fear of hurting the chances of Aznar's Populist Party holding on to power.
"Listen, ETA has never done a bombing like this without calling and warning the government beforehand," said Olga Gonzalez, a 32-year-old secretary. "Ninety percent of Spaniards were against the war in Iraq. If al-Qaida is involved and not ETA, this changes everything for the elections. It will only help to elect the Socialist Party."
Interior Minister Acebes was adamant that the evidence pointed to ETA. He noted that ETA has a history of creating havoc in the days before a national election.
He also said the explosives used - Goma II Eco - were made in Spain and that ETA had used the same brand in previous attacks.
"Of course we will continue to investigate any and all information we get on who may be responsible," he said. "But at this point there is mounting evidence that this was not the work of al-Qaida."
It seems relevant here, though..
An unexploded 25 lb bomb was found in a back-pack. This bomb contained nails and screws to increase lethal effect. The bomb was discovered because of tones coming from a ringing cell phone that was inside the backpacks,. The cellphone wasn't connected to the explosives.
Here's the most important part, IMO, and which I have translated from "Spiegel"...
The type of explosive found is more decisive, however. According to information from "Cardena Ser", they are dealing with "Special C" which is produced in Spain. The Basque terrorist organization ETA normally doesn't use this type of explosive device, says the report. From findings of Spanish terror investigators the ETA uses mostly conventional explosives, which they have stolen from mining operations.
"Special C" is linked to terrorists in the Islamic extremeist scene.
The "Spiegel" says this information is still unconfirmed by Spanish investigators, and, therefore, their German bomb expert sources don't want to speculate on news reports. Spanish media had been reporting that unexploded backpacks which were found had been consistent with ETA devices. Spanish authorities and international secret services are still presuming ETA is responsible, since a letter claiming responsiblity is inconclusive.
Synopsis complete...
"Spiegel Online".....Rätsel um nicht explodierte Bombe
longjack
I hope you are right. However, assuming Arabs are involved, it looks like Spain paid a high price for their alliance with us. Spain might be more "pissed than it is scared" because this type of attack is unlikely to be repeated in Spain anytime soon. But another country might not want to be the next Spain. In war you do not win every battle, and I am afraid that yesterday we lost one.
I'd forgotten all about it until yesterday's attack. I found a one-word-at-a-time Basque/English translator and the slogan would probably say in English "The Basque Country Revolution is also Socialist".
The URL in the lower left corner leads to an interesting site. It's in Basque (Euskadi), but you get the drift of it right away.
Aluminum vs copper detonaters,
dynamite vs Special K!!
LETS HANG THE BA@#ATRDS!
Well what do you think they "gained" from the other 900 people they murdered over the past 30 years?
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| BOMBING SERIES IN MADRID ETA Denies Participation in Terror Attack The Basque underground organization ETA has denied any involvement in the bomb attacks leaving 200 dead in Madrid, according to media reports. An anonymous caller contacted both a Basque TV station and a newspaper. The caller said, word-for-word: "The ETA had no responsibility for yesterday's attacks". "Gara" reported that the caller spoke Basque. Almost simultaneous with the "Gara" announcement, the Basque TV station, ETB, reported that there, also, a caller denied that the ETA had any responsibility for the bombs in the suburban trains. Till now, the authenticity of the two calls hasn't been confirmed, but in the past, the ETA has regularly confessed to attacks through the TV station and the newspaper. According to information from Basque TV, the call recorded by the station should be classified as genuine. A voice comparison has shown that the caller is the same one who, three weeks ago, in a video message in the name of the ETA, announced a "ceasefire" for the region of Catalonia. On the other hand, the Spanish police further regard the ETA as the chief suspect. A bomb, which was discovered overnight in a Madrid police station and defused, consisted of dynamite produced in Spain, like that which has been used before by the organization, said Secretary of the Interior Angel Acebes. However, Islamic terrorists wouldn't be excluded as perpetrators. Investigations lead in all directions. March 12, 2004 Translated by longjack |
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