Madrid (AsiaNews/Agencies) As the country mourns the deaths of victims and joins in solidarity the Spanish government has announced that it "will follow all clues" when investigating who was responsible for yesterday's terrorist attacks on trains in Madrid.
Initially Spain leaned toward blaming internal organizations, accusing ETA of the bombings. Yet now the government says it will not rule out any theories, even those linked to Islamic terrorist groups. In the past, the Basque separatist party had committed brutal attacks, but never a massacre of such major proportions.
On the evening of March 11 the Arab daily Al-Quds al-Arabi received an Arabic written letter at his its London offices. The letter was signed by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade and claims responsibility for the strikes in the name of Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network.
Yesterday police found a truck containing 7 detonators and some Arab audio cassettes with verses of the Koran recorded on them.
Israeli sources said yesterday that Spain asked for the help of Israeli medical examiners to identify the bodies of victims. But today Madrid issued a statement saying it does not need the intervention of their medical experts for the time being.
The Spanish government has proclaimed a 3-day period of national mourning. The bombings resulted in 198 deaths and 1430 people being seriously wounded. Several bodies around 60 still have not been identified. (MR)