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 The twisted wreck of a Spanish train.
On the morning of March 11th the Spanish capital Madrid听was rocked by a series of 10 bombs. Currently the death toll stands at 198 with over a 1,000 injured.
It was like any ordinary Thursday for the commuters in Madrid, then at 0640 GMT four bombs exploded on a busy commuter train on its approach into Atocha station. At the same time, three bombs exploded on another train inside Atocha station killing at least 30 people.
A few minutes later two more explosions occurred on a double-decker train at El Pozo station killing at least 70 people. The final detonation happened at 0642 ripping through a train at Santa Eugenia station killing at least 17 people.
Panic and widespread chaos occurred as mobile phone networks jammed with people trying to phone their loved-ones. The emergency services were stretched to their limit and even ran out of ambulances. People came forward instantly to offer blood as hospitals could not cope with the amount of casualties.
As the emergency services tried to calm the situation it soon became apparent that this was one of the biggest terrorist attacks to hit Western Europe. Messages of sympathy from around the globe have been flooding in:
President Bush quickly offered his support "We stand strongly with the people of Spain. I appreciate so very much the Spanish government's fight against terror, their resolute stand against terrorist organisations like Eta. And the United States stands with them. And today we ask God's blessings on those who suffer in the great country of Spain".
Prime Minister Blair made a public statement shortly after the attack "This terrible attack underlines the threat that we all continue to face from terrorism in many countries and why we must all work together internationally to safeguard our peoples against such attacks and defeat terrorism."
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, whose country holds the EU presidency, was united in his condemnation: "The timing of the bombings was clearly designed to wreak the greatest level of havoc... and cannot be justified by any political cause."
The harrowing task of identifying bodies and piecing together evidence now begins. Spain has declared three days of mourning and an official vigil will take place to mourn the victims and protest against world terrorism. The Spanish elections will still go ahead despite the attacks. Amazingly the train stations re-opened the day after the attack. The Spanish government has urged the people to try and carry on as normal, and not let the terrorists succeed.
He declared "We will leave no stone unturned in our enquiries. We will follow up each and every lead."
Fingers of blame are starting to point towards the Basque separatist group the Eta but they have denied any responsibility for it. Questions are now being raised as to whether this could have been carried out by the Islamic militant network Al-Queda. Links have been made to this group as this attack occurred exactly 911 days after the attack of 9/11 in New York.
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