Spain marks train attacks with silence, sorrow

Commuters wait to get on trains near a memorial site for the victims of the March 11 train bombings at Atocha station in Madrid. Picture / Reuters

MADRID - Spain commemorated the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings on  with tears, church bells and silent tributes to the 191 people who died in al Qaeda's worst attack in Europe.

Trains and buses came to a halt as Spaniards observed five minutes of silence, flags flew at half-mast and mourners left candles and flowers outside Madrid's Atocha station - scene of two of the blasts.

One of many notes left with the flowers said: "Today, one year on, we haven't forgotten you."

Relatives of some victims stayed home or left Spain to avoid reliving raw memories of the attacks, which helped oust the conservatives from power and fuelled a year of recriminations within Spain's political class.

"The world mourns with you," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a news conference in Madrid, where other leaders gathered including Afghan President Hamid Karzai and King Mohammed of Morocco.

As imams at Friday prayers at Spanish mosques condemned terrorism, Spain's leading Islamic body issued a religious order declaring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network to have forsaken Islam by backing attacks such as the Madrid bombings.

"Any group that invokes Islam to justify terrorist attacks places itself outside of Islam," Mansur Escudero, secretary general of the Islamic Commission of Spain said.

Churches throughout the Madrid area rang their bells for five minutes from 7.37 am, the time that 10 bombs fashioned out of stolen dynamite began exploding on four commuter trains.

Later, Spain's King Juan Carlos led five minutes of silence at the "Forest of the Departed," where a tree has been planted for each of the 191 dead plus a policeman killed when seven bombing suspects blew themselves up in April.

Dozens of people, some with tears in their eyes, poured through the gates when the monument opened to the public later.

"I feel part of me is broken. I am missing something," said Elena Bogdan, a 28-year-old Romanian immigrant whose twin sister was killed in the bombings.

More than 2000 people were injured and many others still bear psychological scars.

Relatives of victims were amongst mourners who joined Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and King Juan Carlos at a memorial ceremony in Madrid's Almudena Cathedral in the evening.

"Terrorism will never have the final word in the life of nations or in their destinies; nor will it in Spain" Madrid's Archbishop Antonio Maria Rouco Varela told the congregation.

The bombings rocked Spain three days before an election, in which voters backed the Socialists in an upset that political analysts attributed in part to the way the Popular Party government at first blamed the Basque separatist group ETA.

The attacks also reminded voters of the government's unpopular decision to send troops to Iraq. Zapatero ordered the troops home immediately after taking office.

A special parliamentary commission to study what happened and recommend how to prevent future attacks produced partisan bickering and failed to reach a consensus.

On a visit to Mexico, former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said the attack had been the most painful moment of his life and he called for cooperation in defeating terrorism.

A three-day anti-terrorism conference in Madrid to mark the anniversary called on Friday for states to put aside their differences over definitions of terrorism and take concerted action to deny extremists the chance for fresh attacks.

Al Qaeda, in a statement from Iraq, said the conference would not prevent the utter defeat of "enemies of God".

Forty-one suspects are in jail in connection with the investigation, most of them Moroccans suspected of being affiliated with international jihad. Another suspect was freed on bail on Friday after being accused of helping an armed group.

In a videotape, the bombers invoked the name of al Qaeda and claimed the attacks as revenge for Spain's decision to send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

- REUTERS