Spain brings its seven slain spies home

MADRID - Coffins bearing seven intelligence agents killed in the deadliest single attack on Spanish forces in Iraq arrived home yesterday, as a defiant Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar vowed to stand firm.

The deaths rekindled deep-seated doubts about the role of Spanish troops in Iraq, but Aznar - who disregarded public opinion to support the US invasion - sounded a defiant note after calling for a day of national mourning for the dead men.

"We are where we have to be and we will not leave the victims ... to their fate," Aznar said in a televised address.

"We will fulfil our commitments with loyalty and serenity."

The seven were killed on Sunday when attackers south of Baghdad ambushed their two unmarked vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

Witnesses said a crowd descended on the agents' crippled vehicles, kicking their corpses and shouting slogans in support of fugitive Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, acts which Aznar said underlined the justification for the Spanish presence in Iraq.

"The fanatical hate which accompanied this latest atrocity has given us inconceivable images which we must never forget. We have no option but to face this fanaticism head on."

The coffins, draped in Spain's yellow and red flag, were carried from a military plane and received by an Air Force guard of honour, then driven in seven identical hearses to a military hospital for autopsies.

Families of the men huddled under umbrellas on the tarmac of the Torrejon military airbase, weeping as a chaplain in flowing purple robes held a short service for the dead in the biting cold and strong winds.

The ceremony was attended by top secret service officials, Foreign Minister Ana Palacio and joint Deputy Prime Ministers Rodrigo Rato and Javier Arenas.

Jose Manuel Sanchez, who escaped the attack almost unharmed, returned on the same plane.

A date has not been set for the funerals, but Aznar said in an address to the nation that the day would be one of national mourning.

Dressed in a dark suit and tie, he named each of those killed in what he called an act of "terrorist fanaticism".

Aznar, like British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has been willing to gamble his popularity at home to support Washington.

Aznar plans to retire before next year's general election. But despite criticism of his centre-right Popular Party for backing US President George W. Bush's military strategy in Iraq, it has moved ahead of the opposition Socialists in recent polls.

Some opposition parties called for the resignation of the defence minister and an immediate withdrawal of the 1300 Spanish soldiers helping control south-central Iraq.

In a survey on the website of El Mundo newspaper, more than two- thirds of voters said Spanish troops should be brought home.

But on the streets of Madrid, there was a sense of shock at the deaths rather than calls for a withdrawal.

King Juan Carlos expressed sorrow and solidarity with the families, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder added his condolences to those of Bush, who rang Aznar from his Texas ranch, and European Union Commission President Romano Prodi.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq