Spanish police find bomb on rail line

Spanish civil guards inspect the train rail line at Mocejon in Spain
Spanish civil guards inspect the train rail line at Mocejon in Spain. Photograph: Jesus Carvajal/AP
Spanish police today found a bomb on a high-speed rail line between Madrid and Seville, the country's interior minister, Angel Acebes, said.

Bomb disposal experts, who were alerted by a railway employee, found 10-12kg (22-24lb) of dynamite under a railway line around 40 miles south of the capital, Madrid, Mr Acebes said.

The discovery follows last month's train bombings in the city, in which 191 people died and around 1,800 were injured. AFP reported that the type of explosive discovered today was similar to that used in the Madrid attacks.

The explosives were connected to a detonator by a 130-metre cable, Mr Acebes told reporters. He said that it was not immediately known who had planted the bomb, and added that explosives experts were still examining the scene.

"As we get information regarding those possibly responsible, or details that move the investigation forward, we will give them to you," he said.

The Madrid bombings saw ten bombs rip through four trains in the centre of the city. It was Spain's worst terrorist attack, and the worst atrocity in Europe since the 1984 Lockerbie bombing, in which 270 people died.

The blasts, which happened on March 11, are believed to have been carried out by a Morocco-based Islamist terror cell with links to al-Qaida. There have so far been around 20 arrests in connection with the attacks.

Mr Acebes today appeared to go out of his way to assure the media that the government would give prompt and transparent updates on the investigation.

In the immediate aftermath of the Madrid bombings, many voters felt that government officials had been too quick to blame Eta, the Basque separatist terror group, rather than al-Qaida.

The government has denied claims that it misled the public - the majority of which was against the US-led war in Iraq - because of anxieties about how an al-Qaida attack would affect the March 14 general election.

In the event, the Socialist party won a surprise victory, ousting the government and leading many commentators to conclude that voters felt they had been lied to.

Fears of further attacks have remained high, and police in the north of Spain yesterday defused three letter bombs addressed to journalists in Madrid.

France's railway network has also suffered recent scares. Last month, a previously unknown group calling itself AZF - which is not believed to have links to Islamist terror organisations - attempted to blackmail the French government by leaving explosive devices on railway lines, although it has since withdrawn its threat.

The UK is also on high alert over the possibility of a terrorist attack on the railways or London's Underground.

Following the blasts in Madrid, a poster campaign was launched, intended to motivate passengers to report any unattended bags.