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An activist from the Basque terror group Eta talks to journalists on ETB (Euskal Telebista - Basque Television)
The Basque terror group Eta has said that it "was in no way" responsible for the bomb blasts that killed 199 people on crowded commuter trains in Madrid yesterday.
The denial came as hundreds of thousands of people started marches in Spanish cities and towns to protest against the attacks at the beginning of three days of mourning.
Police said more than 500,000 people had gathered in the capital alone.
Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the French Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission, John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Denis MacShane, Britain's Europe Minister, were planning to join the rally.
José María Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, has vowed to leave no stone unturned in fight to find those responsible for the carnage.
Señor Aznar's conservative government, which is seeking re-election on Sunday, has blamed Eta for the blasts, but the Prime Minister refused to specify the group today when pressed by journalists.
He said: "We will leave no stone unturned in our enquiries. We will follow up each and every lead."
He vowed to bring the killers to justice and pledged that the investigation "will soon bear fruit".
Investigators announced today the discovery of a rucksack containing an unexploded device, which had been stashed by emergency crews with other lost luggage retrieved from the train wreck.
The device was later safely detonated by police.
Angel Acebes, the Interior Minister, told a news conference that "new leads" had been opened up by the discovery of the rucksack.
But he told a news conference Eta was still considered the main line of inquiry.
"It is still the main line of investigation. There is no reason for it not to be," he said, adding that explosives used in the atrocity were similar to those used in the past by the Basque guerrillas.
A Spanish radio report today said that the backpack bombs were set off by mobile phone and contained copper detonators, which are not generally used by Eta.
The private radio station Cadena Ser quoted security sources as saying the components may point to the bomb having been set by an extremist Islamic group like al-Qaeda.
Other evidence has included the discovery of a van containing detonators and an audio tape in Arabic reciting Koranic verses yesterday, near the route of the targeted trains.
There has also been an unverifiable acceptance of responsibility from a group affiliated to al-Qaeda.
Eta used Basque television and newspapers to formally deny involvement in the blasts tonight.
"An Eta message has arrived saying that it bore no responsibility for the attack," a presenter for ETB Basque public television said.
A similar message was sent to the Gara newspaper, which is regularly used by Eta to issue statements.
At midday Señor Aznar joined in a minute's silence to honour the 199 dead, who included 14 nationals from ten other countries.
The number of injured has soared to 1,400, with 377 people still in hospital and 45 of those in a critical condition. Eighty four of the dead have yet to be identified.
As well as the Spanish victims, there was one Chilean, one Cuban, three Peruvians, one Ecuadorean, one from Guinea Bissau, two Hondurans, two Polish, one French, one Moroccan and one Colombian.
Señor Aznar vowed that any immigrant caught up in the disaster would be offered Spanish citizenship.
Among the non-fatal casualties are two Britons, including a woman who is thought to be a resident in Spain and is now recovering in hospital.
The London-based Arabic language Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper said yesterday it had received an e-mail from a group representing al-Qaeda network, claiming responsibility for the explosions.
The e-mail, issued by the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri in the name of al-Qaeda, said its "death squad" had penetrated "one of the pillars of the crusader alliance".
"This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America's ally in its war against Islam," it said.
Madrid was attacked 911 days after the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC.
Europol "predicted Eta attack"
Europol, the European police organisation, gave warning last month of a large-scale attack by the Basque separatist group Eta in Madrid, according to a recent confidential report.
A censored copy of a Europol report made available to the AFP news agency, said that the "possible central scene of terrorist activity could be Madrid and the planned action could involve placing various explosive devices and vehicle bombs in different strategic points of the capital (subway, fast access roads, important streets, particular commercial centres etc.) and setting them to explode successively in the course of a few hours."
The Europol report, which was sent to the Council of Europe last month, added: "The recently observed emphasis on conducting large-scale operations which aim at creating considerable public shock and international coverage is equally of great importance."
March 12, 2004 at 07:05 PM in Terror groups | Permalink | TrackBack (28) | Top of page | Blog Home