In a sharply polarised world post 9/11 - You were 'either with the US' in its war on terror or its declared 'enemy' - the perpetrators of violence struck in the heart of Spanish capital Madrid ahead of elections, as powerful explosions tore through three Madrid train stations - Atocha, El Pozo and Santa Eugenia - during the morning rush hour on March 11, killing 191 people and injuring 1900 others.
While the then interior minister Angel Acebes cast suspicion on Basque separatist ETA, The Al-Qaeda extremist network, and not ETA, later claimed responsibility for the explosions. [The Morocco Islamist Combatant Group's hand was not ruled out, either, in Europe's deadliest terror attack since Lockerbie bombings.
The New York Times said, after World War II, it was the worst terror attack on Europe. Spanish Premier JLR Zapatero, while blaming Islamic radicals linked to Al-Qaeda for the March 11 train bombings, has called for a cross-party pact against international terrorism.] While the wounds of the calamity that befell the victims' kin will take some time to heal, the anger against the crusaders of 'fundamentalist Islam' refuses to die down.
- Sajjan Singh Thakur