2004 Madrid train bombings

The 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks (also known as 11/3 , 3/11 , M-11 and 11-M ) were a series of coordinated terrorist bombings against the commuter train system of Madrid , Spain on the morning of 11 March 2004 , which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800. The scene of one of the Madrid bombings.

Atocha Station The Madrid train bombings consisted of a series of coordinated bombings against the Cercanías ( commuter train ) system of Madrid , Spain on the morning of 11 March 2004 (three days before Spain's general elections), killing 191 people and wounding 1,800. The official investigation by the Spanish Judiciary determined the attacks were directed by an al-Qaeda -inspired terrorist cell although no direct al-Qaeda participation (only "inspiration" ) has been established. Spanish miners who did not carry out the attacks but who sold the explosives to the terrorists were also arrested. Controversy regarding the handling and representation of the bombings by the government arose with Spain's two main political parties ( PSOE and Partido Popular (PP)), accusing each other of concealing or distorting evidence for electoral reasons. The bombings occurred three days before general elections which resulted in the defeat of the incumbent José María Aznar 's Partido Popular (PP), which had obtained a small but narrowing lead in the opinion polls. Immediately after the bombing leaders of the PP claimed evidence indicated the Basque terrorist organization ETA was responsible for the bombings, an outcome generally thought favorable to the PP's chances of being re-elected, while Islamist responsibility would have had the opposite effect , as it would have been perceived a consequence of the PP government's involvement in the Iraq War , a policy already unpopular with Spaniards. Nationwide demonstrations and protests followed the attacks. Some analysts consider that the Aznar administration lost the general elections as a result of the handling and representation of the terrorist attacks, rather than the bombings per se. After 21 months of investigation, judge Juan del Olmo ruled Moroccan national Jamal Zougam guilty of physically carrying out the attack, ruling out any ETA intervention. The September 2007 sentence established no known mastermind nor direct al-Qaida link. El Mundo icon Spanish Indictment on the investigation of 11 March icon "Spain furious as US blocks access to Madrid bombing 'chief' " . The al-Qaeda leader who created, trained and directed the terrorist cell that carried out the Madrid train bombings has been held in a CIA "ghost prison" for more than a year The bombings were carried out by a group of young men, mostly from north Africa, who were, according to prosecutors, inspired by a tract on an al-Qaida-affiliated website that called for attacks on Spain Who was behind the attack, which the magistrate who investigated the bombings said was inspired by, but not directed by, al Quaeda. (Universidad Pompeu Fabra) Del 11-M al 14-M: Los mecanismos del cambio electoral. "Teléfonos móviles e Internet, nuevas tecnologías para construir un espacio público contrainformativo: El ejemplo de los flash mob en la tarde del 13M" Universidad de La Laguna icon El Periódico - 11M El Periódico - 11M El Periódico - 11M Madrid Bombings and U.S. Policy - Brookings Del Olmo sólo tiene ya un presunto autor material del 11-M para sentar en el banquillo / EL MUNDO "The biggest surprise was that two men originally accused of planning the attack were convicted only of belonging to a terrorist group, not of the Madrid killings..."We're very surprised by the acquittal," said Jose Maria de Pablos, spokesman for a victims' association. Somebody gave the order."" ETA, Irak, Zougam, el explosivo... y otras claves de la sentencia del 11-M El 11-M se queda sin autores intelectuales al quedar absueltos los tres acusados de serlo El final del principio en la investigación del 11-M El tribunal del 11-M desbarata la tesis clave de la versión oficial en su sentencia

The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11-M ) were nearly simultaneous, coordinated bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid , Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004 – three days before Spain's general elections and two and a half years after the September 11 attacks in the United States. The explosions killed 191 people and wounded 1,800. The official investigation by the Spanish judiciary found that the attacks were directed by an al-Qaeda -inspired terrorist cell , although no direct al-Qaeda participation has been established. Though they had no role in the planning or implementation, the Spanish miners who sold the explosives to the terrorists were also arrested. Controversy regarding the handling and representation of the bombings by the government arose, with Spain's two main political parties ( Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Partido Popular (PP)), accusing each other of concealing or distorting evidence for electoral reasons. The bombings occurred three days before general elections in which incumbent José María Aznar 's PP was defeated. Immediately after the bombing, leaders of the PP claimed evidence indicating the Basque separatist organization, ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) was responsible for the bombings, while Islamist responsibility would have had the opposite effect, as it would have been seen as a consequence of the PP government taking Spain into the Iraq War , a policy extremely unpopular with Spaniards. Nationwide demonstrations and protests followed the attacks. The predominant view among political analysts is that the Aznar administration lost the general elections as a result of the handling and representation of the terrorist attacks, rather than because of the bombings per se. The bombings constituted the deadliest terrorist attack in Spanish history and among the worst in the history of Europe . As of 2015 it remains the worst attack to occur in Europe since then, and it was the worst since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing . After 21 months of investigation, judge Juan del Olmo processed Moroccan national Jamal Zougam , among several others, for his participation carrying out the attack. The September 2007 sentence established no known mastermind nor direct al-Qaeda link, but experts have repeatedly said that there is no such thing as an intellectual author in Spanish law. El Mundo icon "Spanish Indictment on the investigation of 11 March" . (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) Del 11-M al 14-M: Los mecanismos del cambio electoral. Somebody gave the order.' " .

The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11-M ) were nearly simultaneous, coordinated bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid , Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004 – three days before Spain's general elections . The explosions killed 193 people and injured around 2,000. The bombings constituted the deadliest terrorist attack carried out in the history of Spain and the deadliest in Europe since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie , Scotland. The official investigation by the Spanish judiciary found that the attacks were directed by an al-Qaeda terrorist cell , although no direct al-Qaeda participation has been established. Although they had no role in the planning or implementation, the Spanish miners who sold the explosives to the terrorists were also arrested. Controversy regarding the handling and representation of the bombings by the government arose, with Spain's two main political parties— Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Partido Popular (PP)—accusing each other of concealing or distorting evidence for electoral reasons. The bombings occurred three days before general elections in which incumbent José María Aznar 's PP was defeated. Immediately after the bombing, leaders of the PP claimed evidence indicating the Basque separatist organization ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) was responsible for the bombings. Islamic extremists' responsibility would have had the opposite political effect, as it would have been seen as a consequence of the PP government taking Spain into the Iraq War , a policy extremely unpopular among Spaniards. Following the attacks, there were nationwide demonstrations and protests demanding that the government "tell the truth". The prevailing opinion of political analysts is that the Aznar administration lost the general elections as a result of the handling and representation of the terrorist attacks, rather than because of the bombings per se. Results published in The Review of Economics and Statistics by economist Jose G. Montalvo seem to suggest that indeed the bombings had important electoral impact (turning the electoral outcome against the incumbent People's Party and handing government over to the Socialist Party, PSOE). After 21 months of investigation, judge Juan del Olmo tried Moroccan national Jamal Zougam , among several others, for his participation carrying out the attack. The September 2007 sentence established no known mastermind nor direct al-Qaeda link. "El auto de procesamiento por el 11-M - Documentos" [The automatic processing for 11-M - Documents]. The 192nd victim (Laura Vega) died in 2014, after a decade in coma in a hospital of Madrid. She was the last hospitalized injured person. The al-Qaeda leader who created, trained and directed the terrorist cell that carried out the Madrid train bombings has been held in a CIA "ghost prison" for more than a year. While the bombers may have been inspired by bin Laden, a two-year investigation into the attacks has found no evidence that al-Qa'ida helped plan, finance or carry out the bombings, or even knew about them in advance. Ten bombs in backpacks and other small bags, such as gym bags, exploded. One bomb did not explode and was defused. The police did controlled explosions on three other bombs. International Institute for Strategic Studies . Jamestown Foundation . : Cite journal requires |journal= ( help ) "Madrid: The Aftermath: Spain admits bombs were the work of Islamists" . Somebody gave the order.' " .

Terrorist attack on Madrid's suburban trains "11M" redirects here. The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M ) were a series of coordinated, nearly simultaneous bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid , Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days before Spain's general elections . The explosions killed 193 people and injured around 2,500. The bombings constituted the deadliest terrorist attack carried out in the history of Spain and the deadliest in Europe since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. The attacks were carried out by individuals who opposed Spanish involvement in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq . Controversy regarding the handling and representation of the bombings by the government arose, with Spain's two main political parties—the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the Partido Popular (PP)—accusing each other of concealing or distorting evidence for electoral reasons. The bombings occurred three days before general elections in which incumbent Prime Minister José María Aznar 's PP was defeated. Immediately after the bombing, leaders of the PP claimed evidence indicating the Basque separatist organization ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) was responsible for the bombings, while the opposition claimed that the PP was trying to prevent the public from knowing it had been an Islamist attack, which would be interpreted as the direct result of Spain's involvement in Iraq, an unpopular war which the government had entered without the approval of the Spanish Parliament . The scale and precise planning of the attacks reared memories of the September 11 attacks . Following the attacks, there were nationwide demonstrations and protests demanding that the government "tell the truth." The prevailing opinion of political analysts is that the Aznar administration lost the general elections as a result of the handling and representation of the terrorist attacks, rather than because of the bombings per se. Results published in The Review of Economics and Statistics by economist José García Montalvo [ es ] seem to suggest that indeed the bombings had important electoral impact (turning the electoral outcome against the incumbent People's Party and handing government over to the Socialist Party, PSOE). After 21 months of investigation, judge Juan del Olmo tried Moroccan national Jamal Zougam, among several others, for his participation carrying out the attack. Although claims were made that attacks were linked to al-Qaeda , investigations and probes conducted by Spanish officials did not find any links to al-Qaeda. Findings issued by the Spanish judiciary in September 2007 found 21 individuals guilty of participating in the attacks, while rejecting the involvement of an external mastermind or direct al-Qaeda links. "El auto de procesamiento por el 11-M - Documentos" [The automatic processing for 11-M - Documents]. The 193rd victim (Laura Vega) died in 2014, after a decade in coma in a hospital of Madrid. She was the last hospitalized injured person. While the bombers may have been inspired by bin Laden, a two-year investigation into the attacks has found no evidence that al-Qa'ida helped plan, finance or carry out the bombings, or even knew about them in advance. Ten bombs in backpacks and other small bags, such as gym bags, exploded. One bomb did not explode and was defused. The police did controlled explosions on three other bombs. The cell was inspired by al-Qaida but had no direct links to it, nor did it receive financing from Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization, Spanish investigators say "Al Qaeda, Madrid bombs not linked: Spanish probe" . International Institute for Strategic Studies . Jamestown Foundation . : Cite journal requires |journal= ( help ) "Madrid: The Aftermath: Spain admits bombs were the work of Islamists" . The Review of Economics and Statistics . 93 (4): 1146– 1154. The al-Qaeda leader who created, trained and directed the terrorist cell that carried out the Madrid train bombings has been held in a CIA "ghost prison" for more than a year. Somebody gave the order.' " .