The BBC news website has a page containing emails they have recieved from eye witnesses of the bombing.
ETA is blaming “Arab resistance.” :eek:
Oh Dear God.
Awful, simply awful.
Interesting point. It seems to be quite a large step up for ETA; the previous high for casualties by an ETA attack was 21, in Barcelona 17 years ago.
This is just awful.
Spain is my third favourite country on Earth. Madrid is one of the nicest cities in Europe.
Nothing has hit me this hard since 9-11.
Fox News is reporting they found three unexploded bombs and destroyed them.
I don’t know much about Basque resistance and Eta…is this something in their league?
How awful! It reminds me poignantly of 9/11 because it was so random affecting people who weren’t doing anything but going to work. And how many Spanish Basques were on the trains, BTW? The killers could care less.
My brother’s in Spain but down in the Seville area, at the American Air Force Base. I’ll try him a bit later–the Ministries are asking people to keep non-emergency calls off the cellphone networks. The people of Madrid are behaving themselves very well–the blood donation needs have already been met, and people are really supporting each other. The anger and despair will get stronger once the rescues are finished–wouldn’t want to be an innocent Basque today, although to be fair most Basques can’t stand the ETA. Never mind the effect on the election and their economy–Atocha is a huge metro central station, and El Pozo and Santa Eugenia were pretty important too. The page of eyewitness reports is heartbreaking and sounds a lot like the post 9/11 reports.
Wow, CNN is saying ten bombs now. How evil can you get.
ETA aren’t a smalltime operation. They have years of experience, and plenty of access to explosives. I’d imagine by this point they would have the capability to carry out an attack like this.
If ETA themselves are denying responsibility (I’ve only seen a Batasuna denial) that does make me wonder, though.
The bomb total is up to thirteen now. 600 injured.
They’re not suspending the election itself, jjimm, just the campaigning. Which I understand. Something similar happened in Sweden last year when Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was stabbed to death days before a referendum on the euro.
But that crime, although appalling and tragic, only took one life. I can’t fathom the evil twist in thinking that leads to planting multiple bombs on trains you know damn well will be crowded with people.
I certainly hope Spain will continue with the election, no matter how hard it is.
Just thought I’d share this:
My Spanish co-worker concurs that it’s more likely Al-Qaeda than ETA; she says ETA always calls in warnings, and that this type of attack is not at all their usual M.O. They normally target government officials and wealthy businesspeople, not ordinary commuters. I guess time will tell, but my gut feeling is that she’s right.
If anyone has additional arguments one way or the other, please share.
Latest update: 186 confirmed dead, 1000+ injured 
I too, am starting to doubt that it’s ETA.
Is it just me, or does it seem rather odd that EXACTLY 2 and a half years ago was 9/11?
Very awful situation in Spain. My condolences.
Hmmm…it could be a particularly nasty and violent unknown faction of the ETA, and the timing right before the elections on Sunday points to a domestic thing–but your friend’s points are interesting.
If it is AQ, trying to ‘punish’ the Popular Party for their part in the war, why now? Aznar isn’t running anyway. And besides, I can’t imagine a greater endorsement for a party than that AQ is willing to kill to stop them from winning an election. Of course, I’m attributing an understanding of the democratic process to AQ…
Death toll keeps going up, it’s so horrible.
A good point. But I guess it makes sense to consider the Lockerbie case more anti-US than anything, seeing as it targeted an American airline, and mainly caused Americans to die.
Not that that makes it any better, or worse, of course. But you’re right, it certainly took place in Europe.
I heard the Dutch news broadcast reports that it has been confirmed an ETA bombing. But this is second hand information, so take it for what it’s worth. I didn’t see it myself.
I believe she is incorrect about this. No cite, but I can recall hearing of a couple no-warning car bombs (I was in Madrid for one of them and the bomb exploded just down the road from where a friend of mine lived).
They’re saying now that the bombs were placed in backpacks, which is an ETA trademark. However nothing seems to have been confirmed as yet.