At least three suspects in the Madrid railway bombings blew themselves up Saturday as police prepared to storm their apartment. One special forces agent was killed in the explosion and 15 police officers were wounded. The blast in Leganes, a southern suburb of Madrid, blew out part of the exterior walls on the first and second floors of the brick apartment building.
Police had approached the building at around 7 p.m. to make arrests as part of an escalating manhunt for those responsible for the March 11 bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.
The suspects spotted the police from a window and shot at them, chanting loudly in Arabic, the Interior Ministry said. No police officers were hurt by the gunfire.
Over the next two hours, police evacuated as many people as they could from the building and surrounding area and prepared for an assault on the apartment.
[...]
The investigation into the March 11 attacks have focused on the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which has links to Al Qaeda.
Judge Juan del Olmo, the investigating magistrate, has issued international arrest warrants for five Moroccans and a Tunisian, identified as Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet and described as the leader of the bombers.
Another 15 suspects are already in custody. Six have been charged with mass murder and nine with collaborating with or belonging to a terrorist organization. Eleven of the 15 charged are Moroccan.
Earlier Saturday, Acebes said a bomb found under the tracks of a high-speed train line on Friday was made of the same brand of explosive, Goma 2 Eco, that was used in the Madrid train attacks.
[Making today's incident the second in 2 days for Spain and terrorist bombs. Someone bad definitely has Spain's number!--Jen]
[...]
"It's the same type of explosive and it's the same brand," Acebes said of the 26-pound bomb. The bomb was planted about 40 miles south of Madrid, and its discovery stopped six bullet trains using the Madrid-Seville line.
[...]
The Spanish government's main suspect in the March 11 attacks, the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, is related to a group suspected in last year's Casablanca bombings, which killed 45 people including 12 suicide bombers.
Spain has been a major U.S. ally in Iraq and has been warned previously by Al Qaeda that it would be the target of terrorism for its support.
[And it withdraws that support and still is bombed.
Appeasement and giving in to terrorists never works.--j.t.]
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported Saturday that the Spanish Embassy in Egypt received a letter from an Islamic militant group threatening new attacks if Spain did not withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
[And Spain just pledged more troops to the Afghan front.]
In the letter, the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, a group that also claimed responsibility for the March 11 attacks, threatened to strike against Spanish diplomatic missions in North Africa and the Mediterranean regionunless Spanish troops are withdrawn in four weeks.
[Interesting that they give them a deadline.--Jen]
A Spanish diplomat in Cairo, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the embassy received a threatening letter signed by Abu Hafs after the commuter train attacks last month.
The United States believes the Abu Hafs group lacks credibility and has only tenuous ties to Al Qaeda. In the past, the group has claimed responsibility for events to which they were not connected — such as last summer's blackouts in North America and Britain.
Hmmm. Are they sure that Islamist terrorists weren't responsible for the blackouts?
And it wasn't just the USA and the UK: there were blackouts in Australia, Italy and Scandinavia, too.
If they were capable of hacking the power plants computer systems, they could have pulled it off.
Back to Spain's problem, though.
Zapatero has 2 ways he can go: he can try to appease the bad guys even more and step up the troops withdrawal and end the pursuit of the Madrid bombers at home OR he can see that he's been played for the fool and do a "180," recommitting his government to both fighting Islamist terrorists at home and overseas with troops in either Iraq or Afghanistan or both.
We shall see which choice he makes.
