SPAIN: Spain's outgoing government declassified intelligence reports yesterday in an effort to counter claims it hid or manipulated information about who was behind the suspected al-Qaeda-linked Madrid train bombings and that it tried to pin the blame on Eta without good grounds.
"The government is going to demonstrate its innocence and honour," government spokesman and Labour minister Mr Eduardo Zaplana said. "Elections can be lost but what the government will not permit . . . is being held up as a liar."
Mr Zaplana and Interior Minister Mr Angel Acebes said the government acted on assessments from the National Intelligence Centre (CNI).
The dossier handed out to journalists showed that intelligence services did indeed suspect Eta at the outset. But it appeared to be incomplete and also showed the government was keen to play down other possible leads.
The first intelligence report, dated the afternoon of the attacks, says Eta responsibility was "almost certain" but it also examines the possibility of an Islamic role.
The government dossier also includes a diplomatic telegram Foreign Minister Ms Ana Palacio sent to all ambassadors less than two hours after this report, saying Eta's role had been confirmed by the Interior Ministry and urging ambassadors to publicise this.Ms Palacio's message went out as police were analysing their first big break in the case - a stolen van found near the railway station where three of the four bombed trains originated.
Inside the van police found an audio tape with Koranic verses and bomb detonators of a variety not used by Eta. The van also pointed away from Eta because it did not have falsified licence plates - a hallmark of the group.
The documents handed out yesterday include an intelligence services document suggesting that a letter claiming al-Qaeda responsibility - one that came out on the night of the attacks - was of dubious credibility.
But the dossier lacked any intelligence assessment of a videotaped claim of al-Qaeda responsibility, found on Saturday evening. Sources close to the investigation say the videotape was probably more credible than the letter.
Meanwhile, Spanish police yesterday picked up five more suspects, including a Spaniard and four Arabs. The arrests follow the detention of three Moroccans and two Indians two days after last Thursday's attacks.
An 11th suspect, an Algerian man, is being held but court sources do not believe he is central to the inquiry. State radio said one of those taken yesterday, who was arrested in a northern city, was suspected of the attack and was also wanted over last May's Casablanca bombings, in the latest indication that the two strikes are linked.
The five men arrested on Saturday were taken to Spain's High Court yesterday amid tight security. They had their rights read to them, were given a medical check, and were due to give testimony behind closed doors later in the day, when a judge will decide whether to release them or keep them in custody.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland yesterday defended Poland's involvement in the war in Iraq. "I believe . . . that Iraq today, without Saddam Hussein, is a much better place than Iraq with Saddam Hussein," Mr Kwasniewski said, while adding: "Of course I feel a certain discomfort that we were misled about weapons of mass destruction."