Suspects kill themselves

2004-04-04 08:57

Madrid - Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes says three suspects in the Madrid train attacks have blown themselves up, also killing a police officer, after they were surrounded in a massive security stake-out.

"The terrorists blew themselves up killing an officer of the police special forces and injuring 11 other police officers," he said.

The explosion, which went off when security forces tried to enter an apartment building in a Madrid suburb where the suspects were holed up, was "was very strong, the roof and part of the exterior wall were destroyed."

The bodies of the three suspects, reportedly of North African origin, were buried beneath the rubble of the partly destroyed four-story building, he said.

At least one of them was on a list of suspects wanted by investigators for ties to the March 11 attacks on four commuter trains in Madrid that killed 191, in Spain's worst terrorist attack.

- AFP