Spain marks anniversary of Madrid train bombings

MADRID - The calendar finally returned to March 11 today, forcing Spain to remember the traumatic Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people a year ago.

Church bells will ring at 7:37 a.m. (7.37pmNZT) to mark the first of the 10 explosions aboard four commuter trains in Madrid, and the whole of Spain will pause for five minutes of silence at midday.

World leaders led by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and hundreds of security experts gathered in Madrid to reflect on the attacks, carried out by Islamist militants three days before a general election.

Some 218 victims still require medical attention from wounds suffered in the blasts. In all 2,061 people were treated following what Spaniards call "our Sept. 11."

For others the scars are psychological, leading victims to leave the country or take the day off to avoid reminders.

Railway inspector Francisco Javier Zamarra said a colleague who witnessed the massacre from the train station platform was still shaken.

"He doesn't want to be here," Zamarra said from central Atocha station, which is always crowded with commuters at 7:37 on a weekday morning. "I'll try to overcome it, but we'll see. It's been tough for 365 days. This day in particular will be a hard one."

Police have enacted a special security plan to prevent a repeat attack, and Spain has hired an AWACS surveillance plane from NATO to patrol the skies.

Islamist militants - mostly from Morocco and other North African countries - claimed the attacks in the name of al Qaeda, describing them as revenge for Spain sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Seventy-five people have been arrested in the criminal investigation. Of those 25 remain in jail, 17 are under court supervision and 33 have been freed.

The bombings rocked Spain just as it was preparing to vote, and angry crowds gathered outside offices of the ruling Popular Party the day before the March 14 election.

The next day voters gave the Socialist party victory, in an upset that political analysts attributed in part to the way the government had at first wrongly blamed the Basque separatist group ETA for the bombing.

The attacks also reminded voters of the government's unpopular decision to send troops to Iraq.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ordered the troops home immediately after taking office.

- REUTERS