Massive terrorist attack in Spain

Spanish press says there are 125 dead confirmed so far.
Why?

 

I'm sure I heard just now 113. Could be wrong.

4 bombs, 4 trains, 3 stations.
No warning given - could this be the start of their 'summer' schedule?
ETA usually have some shred of decency and tell people they're about to blow something up.

EDIT: 131 dead and 400 injured

 

Spanish elections in three days. Perhaps ETA decided it was time to get really nasty?

 

ETA now saying they've got nothing to do with it.

If that's true, then that would perhaps explain why no warnings were given.
It also obviously means someone else was to blame.

Al-Quaeda anyone?
No warning, synchronised bombings (well within a few minutes of each other) against a partner in the "War on Terror" (ugh).
Smells a bit funny really.

 

its as intriguing a thought as it is disturbing. It does smell like Al Queada (sp?), but I highly doubt that if they are involved they are so without the ETA's knowledge.

Whatever the case this is a disturbing new twist to the tale and it looks like the worst terrorist event yet concerning the ETA. My good friend has a girlfriend studying there and my alma mater has a study abroad program there. I'd imagine there alot of phone calls being made all over that country right about now. Sad.

 

173 dead.

Thing is, it's just not ETA's usual style - especially with them denying it. It serves no purpose to do it then deny it, if you've blown something up as part of your agenda.

 

the more I think about it the more disturbing it gets. you make sense, there is absolutely nothing gained for the ETA by denying they did this. The whole point for them would be that everyone knows they are striking and they mean business. Denying it makes it even MORE senseless, if that is possible.

I worry about what we might learn in the coming days about who is really behind the bombings.

I wonder what Spain's response will be if they are convinced it is the ETA?

 

While it may not seem to match ETA's style, they have bombed inicent civilians in the past. The Spanish police recently cuaght some ETA operatives with a great deal of explosives. Spanish authorities knew ETA was planning something big. My guess is that ETA at least had a hand in it.

 

agreed. but i still have to believe that ETA played a part in the bombings, despite whatever "group" may claim responsibility; i am guessing they were involved in scouting locations, logistical help, transporation, etc. ETA always claims responsibility for what they do, so it is indeed odd they have denied responsibility.

very sad. my prayers go out to those in and around madrid today.

 

no doubt there is plenty of recent evidence that makes the ETA prime suspects despite them so far denying responsibility.

 

The date is exactly 6 months before, or 6 months after, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

 

I'd like to have it on record that I think ETA weren't the main part of this.
From everything I've heard today -and from everything I've known about how ETA work.

It's just got AQ written all over it. Sure ETA will be the first to have fingers pointed at them - but that's to be expected. Much as if this had happened in the UK ten years ago - the IRA would have been prime suspects.
Rush hour, simulataneous explosions, Spain being a 'partner' -ETA denying it.

We'll see.

 

www.vg.no is running a series of images from the bomb sites. In one they show a medium range shot of the worst hit train, I think, in at least two places huge chunks of the train carriage are just gone.

"pictures" in Norwegian is "bilder" the link is just under the main headline on the front page, of course.

 

What little I know of the ETA, this doesn't sound like them.

 

This was Otegi's response in El Mundo, which echos the non-ETA views. He think Spain's role in the war, etc. who knows...just terrible news.

Basta Ya!

 

sadness. I feel for the people of spain. That train , if you aren't aware is not a subway, it brings people from outside the center to Madrid. Quite possibly it could contain Gallegos, Catalans Asturians, Andalucians plus so many more, even Basques . That is terrifying. Sad and Wrong.

On a selfish point, As a Basque, I pray this was not ETA. ETA does not represent even most Basques.

Here is the quote by Basque Goverment's president, and he sums most of our feelings.

''What a horror,'' said the Basque regional president, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, who insisted ETA does not represent the Basque people. ''When ETA attacks, the Basque heart breaks into a thousand pieces,'' he said in the Basque capital Vitoria.

While high number of Basques do want a seperate nation, they do not believe it should be achieved by these means.

Once again, I am saddened.

 

Then again, after reading this, it could very well be ETA.

 

there is another article on vg.no about Norwegian experts not believing this is the work of the ETA.

I wonder what the implications of a major Al Quaeda operation in Spain would be?

 

This was written in the article "The New Fascism" in today's Guardian:

"No progress in human affairs will ever be built on the blood of innocent people. Today, we are all Spanish."

 

My thoughts exactly. Might be an ETA breakaway group though.

 

Al Qaeda has been known to be operating in Spain for years.

Baltasar Garzón, who is best known for going after Pinochet, recently charged Bin Laden and Al Qaeda with the 9/11 attacks, partly because Spain has, in his estimation, long served as a base of operations, financial support and planning for Al Qaeda.

 

the article on vg.no basically states that the ETA has a history of avoiding innocent bloodshed and that if this is truly them that it marks a radical shift in tactics. The experts go on to say that the ETA could have been influenced by Al-Queada, but that in their minds it is much more likely that an Al-Queada tied group is resonsible. They mention that Spain has been named as a possible victom due to its support of the U.S. and that the possibility of an AQ attack on a European capitol has been an increasing posibility.



all in all they just don't think this was ETA and if it was then something most likely went terribly wrong or their usual warning didn't get out in time. Neither of which add up anyway, to me, as this was a direct attack on a very civilion infrastructure which again, is completely out of line with the ETA's history and doctran.


p.s., my spelling is terrible today, please forgive!

 

I meant the reaction to an actual terrorist attack on the part of AQ. It will be very interesting to see what shakes loose after all this is said and done.

 

AQ's #2 man, al-Zawahiri, recently had an audio (or was it video?) message aired on Arab TV. I remember reading in the Wash Post that in the weeks after 5 of his previous 10 pronouncements there had been major attacks...you have to wonder.