Madrid: ETA or al-Qaeda?

2004-03-12 07:54

Madrid - Spanish officials, stunned by co-ordinated bomb blasts in Madrid on Thursday, said they were keeping their lines of investigation open after clues emerged possibly implicating Basque or Islamic militants.

Spanish authorities, who initially blamed the Basque separatist group ETA, said they had found a stolen van containing detonators and an audio tape of the Qu'ran in Madrid after the blasts.

At the same time, a London-based Arabic newspaper, al-Quds al-Arabi, issued a statement it said it had received from al-Qaeda claiming responsibility.

Government spokesperson Eduardo Zaplana held ETA responsible for the attacks, denying that a suicide attack had been part of the series as reported by a private radio station.

"Everything leads to the criminal terrorist gang ETA," Zaplana said.

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar vowed retribution.

We will not back down

"We will not back down in the face of terrorist killings. The perpetrators will be tried and convicted," he said.

Immediately after the blasts, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said there was "no doubt" ETA was responsible.

But he later announced the discovery of the van containing the Arabic tape and seven detonators.

Describing the find as "a new clue," he said the focus of the investigation "remains ETA, but we must be very cautious and investigate other leads."

As Acebes was speaking, al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper issued a statement it said it had received from al-Qaeda.

The attack "was a part of the settling of old scores with crusader Spain, America's ally in its war against Islam," said the statement.

Where is America?

"Where is America, O Aznar? Who is going to protect you, Britain, Japan, Italy and other collaborators from us?" the statement asked.

In a tape attributed to Osama bin Laden in October, the al-Qaeda leader had threatened attacks against Spain, Britain, Australia, Poland, Japan and Italy.

The editor of al-Quds, Abdel Bari Atwan, said he believed the al-Qaeda claim of responsibility was genuine.

"In the past, the same organisation sent us similar letters. They claimed responsibility for the attacks against Italian troops in Iraq and also for other attacks in Istanbul against the British consulate," he told Britain's Sky News.

The leader of a political party close to ETA, Arnaldo Otegi, denied that the Basque group was involved, saying "Arab resistance" was to blame because of Spain's role in supporting the US-led occupation of Iraq.

Doubt on ETA

The head of the European police organisation Europol, Juergen Storbeck, also cast doubt on ETA's involvement, telling reporters in Rome that the bombings were not preceded by a warning, as in previous ETA attacks.

In an unusual move, the UN Security Council, acting on Spain's information, voted unanimously to immediately condemn ETA for the bombings.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he hoped the people behind the Madrid bomb attacks would quickly be caught and brought to trial.

- AFP