Train station blasts kill at least 173

MADRID - A devastating terror attack on three Madrid train stations last night killed at least 173 rush-hour commuters and injured hundreds more.

The blasts were blamed on the militant Basque separatist group ETA and came before Spain's general elections on Sunday.

"This is a massacre," Government spokesman Eduardo Zaplana said.

At least two bombs exploded without warning about 7.30am (7.30pm NZT) in a commuter train arriving at Atocha station, a bustling hub for subway, commuter and long-distance trains. Blasts rocked two other stops on a commuter line to Atocha.

The Spanish Interior Ministry said 173 people were killed in the explosions at three locations - the central Madrid station of Atocha, the southern Madrid station of El Pozo and at Santa Eugenia. Reports said hundreds more were injured and the death toll was expected to rise.

Rescue workers carried away bodies covered in sheets of shiny gold fabric. People with bloodied faces sat on kerbs, using cellphones to tell others they were alive. Hospitals appealed for people to come in and donate blood. Buses were pressed into service as ambulances.

"People started to scream and run, some bumping into each other and as we ran there was another explosion. I saw people with blood pouring from them, people on the ground," said Juani Fernandez, 50, a civil servant who was on the platform waiting to go to work.

The toll would make Thursday the deadliest day ever in decades of attacks by ETA. Until now, the worst was a 1987 supermarket blast in Barcelona that killed 21 people.

ETA often phones in warnings before detonating bombs, but this time it apparently did not. The bombs went off at the height of the morning rush hour.

The coach of the New Zealand men's hockey side, in Madrid for an Olympic qualifying tournament, contacted his wife in Torbay to say his team were safe.

Anne Towns, wife of coach Kevin Towns, told the Herald she received a text message at 9.37pm from her husband saying: "Hi love, we're all ok here." Her son, Simon, is the captain of the team.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman Jonathan Schwass said the New Zealand Embassy in Madrid did not believe any New Zealanders had been hurt or killed.