Edition: U.S. / Global

Spain Struggles to Absorb Worst Terrorist Attack in Its History

Published: March 11, 2004
(Page 2 of 2)

``All of Spain is suffering,'' said Mariano Rajoy, the front runner in Sunday's election and leader of the ruling Popular Party, who has made the fight against terrorism a centerpiece of his campaign and pledged to follow Mr. Aznar's policies. ``This is a moment to put aside differences and show unity with the victims and their families.''

JosÀe LuÀis RodrÀiguez Zapatero, the leader of the Socialist Party and Mr. Rajoy's main rival, said, ``I hope that these scum, these criminals, fall as swiftly as possible into the hands of the police'' so ``we can put an end to ETA.''

The bombs were contained in plastic bags and backpacks that were planted on four trains. The police quickly sealed off the bomb sites and blocked off surrounding streets. Police helicopters flew over Madrid throughout the day, and there were rumors that there could be other attacks.

The police had been put on alert for a possible terrorist attack as the country prepared to go to the polls. But the attacks clearly took Mr. Aznar, his government and the Spanish people by surprise.

In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Aznar, who survived a terrorist attack by ETA in 1995, when he was the opposition leader, boasted that terrorism ``is a lot weaker than it was.''

The security situation seemed so secure that King Juan Carlos attended the soccer match on Wednesday evening between Spain's star-studded Real Madrid team and Munich.

On Thursday the king, accompanied by his wife, Queen SofÀia; their son and heir, Prince Felipe; and his fiancÀee, Letizia OrtÀiz, visited a hospital in central Madrid to comfort survivors and their families.

ETA has been fighting for a separate Basque homeland in northwestern Spain and southwestern France for more than three decades and has been branded a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.

If ETA is found to be responsible, that could widen the margin of victory for Mr. Rajoy and improve the chances of the ruling Popular Party to win an absolute majority of 350 seats.

It would also indicate a dramatic change in its tactics and targets. ETA almost always gives warnings in advance and claims responsibility, and has never conducted an attack of this magnitude. Its deadliest attack came in Barcelona in 1987, when 21 people were killed in a supermarket.

ETA has been severely damaged by cooperation between Spain and France, and last year the group killed only 3 people, compared with 23 in 2000 and 15 in 2001.

Thousands of people have died in Europe over the decades in violent attacks by groups like ETA in Spain and the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, but no single incident has approached the scale of Thursday's attacks here.

Libyan terrorist operations killed 270 people in the bombing of an American airliner, Pan American Flight 103, over Scotland in 1988, and 171 people in a French airliner brought down over Africa in 1989.