Spain yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people and injured nearly 2,000 in the country's worst terrorist attack.
Several commemorative events were held in the Spanish capital, including a religious service in the Almudena Cathedral, attended by many relatives of those killed in the bombing.
Dark objectives
During the service, the archbishop of Madrid, Antonio María Rouco Varela, described the Islamic extremists who carried out the attack as "individuals who, with a spine-chilling premeditation, were prepared to kill innocent people in order to achieve their dark objectives".
The attack, the second-worst Europe has seen after the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, took place during the morning rush hour on March 11th, 2004.
Bombs planted on four trains heading into central Madrid were detonated almost simultaneously, ripping carriages apart and killing and maiming passengers.
Yesterday morning in Atocha railway station, where one of the trains was targeted, Roberto González (34) placed a bouquet next to a makeshift shrine of candles, flowers and photos dedicated to some of those killed. His university classmate, Sara Encinas, died in the attack.
“It’s important to come and remember, because keeping the memories alive keeps those who died alive,” he said.
“This is a society that forgets things too easily. I think we have to realise that we’re here to live. Thanks to democracy we’re free, as opposed to the criminals who did this.”
Tensions
There were tensions between different terrorism victims' groups ahead of the anniversary and in recent years they have staged separate events to mark the day.
Pilar Manjón, president of the March 11 Victims’ Association, had said that a Catholic service in Madrid’s cathedral was inappropriate, given that many of the victims were immigrants from other religions.
However, in the end she and the leaders of the other three main victims’ associations attended yesterday’s Mass in the cathedral, signalling an apparent thawing of relations. Representatives of Islam and the Romanian Orthodox Church were also present, as were King Juan Carlos and senior politicians.
At a later event at Atocha station, Ms Manjón spoke of the need “to emphasise the unity of terrorism victims”, as white balloons representing each person killed were released into the sky and their names were read out.
The 2004 Madrid bombing took place three days before a general election, and both the conservative Popular Party (PP), which was unseated from power, and the opposition Socialist Party accused each other at the time of exploiting the terrorist attack for political ends.
The 2004 attack has since become synonymous in Spain with recrimination and political division, with conspiracy theories about its authorship fuelling the controversy.
No mastermind
In 2007, a group of al-Qaeda-inspired radicals based in Spain received jail sentences for their part in the bombing, although no mastermind was identified.
A Moroccan man, Rafa Zouhier, who was jailed for obtaining explosives used in the attack, is due to be freed on Sunday. Interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz said yesterday that the government wouldl try to expel Zouhier from Spain on his release.
