March 11 In History: The Madrid Train Bombing That Confused Spain

Impact of the Madrid bomb blast (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - On March 11, 2004, 193 people were killed and nearly two thousand people were injured when ten bombs exploded on four trains at three stations in the region of Madrid, Spain. A series of explosions occurred during the morning rush hour.

The bomb was later found detonated by a cell phone. The attack was the deadliest against civilians on European soil since the Lockerbie plane bombing in 1988.

Cited from History, the bombing was initially suspected of being carried out by the separatist militant group ETA. This group is a Basque social and political organization seeking independence from Spain and France.

However, this accusation is weak because the available evidence is not supportive. Finally, it was discovered that the bomb attack was carried out by al Qaeda.

Full of confusion

Investigators believe all the explosions were caused by a homemade explosive device packed in a backpack and carried onto the train. The terrorists appeared to have targeted Madrid's Atocha Station from the start.

Near where there were seven bombs detonated. Another bomb was detonated on the train near the stations of El Poso del Tio Raimundo and Santa Eugenia.

The other three bombs did not go off as planned and were later found intact. Many in Spain and around the world saw the attacks as retaliation for Spain's participation in the war in Iraq, where about 1.400 Spanish troops were stationed at the time.

The attacks took place two days before the Spanish elections, in which anti-war Socialists seized power. The new government, led by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, removed Spanish troops from Iraq, with the latter leaving the country in May 2004.

In April 2004, there was an attempted bombing on the high-speed AVE train track. But the bombing was unsuccessful.

The following day, Spanish police linked residents of an apartment in Leganes, south of Madrid with the attempted bombing. In the raids that followed, seven suicide suspects and one perpetrator detonated a bomb in the apartment to avoid arrest by the authorities.

Another bomber is believed to have died in the train bombing and 29 others were arrested. After a five-month trial in 2007, 21 people were found guilty, although five of them, including Rabei Osman, who was suspected of being the culprit, were later released.

In memory of the victims of the March 11 bombing, a forest of olive and cypress trees was planted in Madrid's El Retiro Park, near Atocha Station. In 2019, Spain's highest jurisdictional court, Audencia Nacional, instructed the attorney general to review classified information about the March 11 bombings and consider new evidence.

Further investigation

Prosecutor officials said they set up a task force with about 200 law enforcement officers to handle the extensive analysis that may be needed if a politically charged case is reopened. Previous investigations under the socialist government accused the mostly Moroccan-born suspects of petty criminals and drug dealers al Qaeda had recruited.

Some analysts then doubted the investigation. Critics explained they failed to explain how the attacks were organized and ignored evidence suggesting the possible involvement of the separatist group ETA.

"Zapatero has not allowed the security services and the attorney general to weave the thread that leads to ETA because it does not fit into the pinhole", investigative journalist Luis del Pino said.

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