The Hindu : International : Madrid bombings mastermind, three others die in suicide blast

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 05, 2004

International

International

Madrid bombings mastermind, three others die in suicide blast

By Vaiju Naravane

PARIS, APRIL 4. At least four suspected Islamist terrorists blew themselves up in the Madrid suburb of Leganes on Saturday night after an hour-long exchange of fire with Spanish police who had encircled the apartment block where they lived.

One Special Forces officer was killed, while 11 others sustained light injuries. Interior Ministry officials said on Sunday that the four killed included a Tunisian national called Serhane Ben Abdel Majid Farkhet, described as the mastermind behind the March 11 bombings in Madrid that killed 191 persons and injured over 1,500 others.

Police, fearing just such an outcome, had cordoned off the area and evacuated nearby buildings. The blast in the first floor flat of a four-storey building was so powerful it blew the roof off the apartment block and badly damaged its façade.

The Interior Minister, Angel Acebes, said last night the men had fired shots from the apartment's windows and sung Arabic chants during an hour-long stand-off before detonating a bomb as police began to assault the building. "It was a very strong explosive charge. All the presumed terrorists inside must have been blown up and killed,' Mr. Acebes said. When they became aware they were surrounded, the suspects in the building "started shooting from the apartment, shouting Arab chants," the Minister said.

The day before, police had recovered a 12-kg bomb placed on a fast-speed railway track linking Madrid to Seville. The bomb was linked to a detonator by a 135 metre-long cable but had not been fully assembled. Mr. Acebes confirmed that Friday's bomb recovered from the rail track contained the same type of explosives as used in the bombs that caused the carnage of March 11.

Residents in Leganes told journalists that three floors of the building suffered extensive damage in Saturday's explosion, while the flat inhabited by the suspected terrorists was completely devastated. The bodies of the terrorists are now being extricated from the rubble by forensic specialists.

According to the Interior Minister, one or more terrorists could have escaped as police began cordoning off the area before attempting to arrest them late on Saturday night. "Some of the terrorists were amongst those being sought as presumed perpetrators of the March 11 mass killing," Mr. Acebes said.

The bodies of the four terrorists, reportedly of north African origin, were buried beneath the rubble of the partly destroyed building. "With the explosion, it will be very difficult to recognise the bodies under all of the debris," Mr. Acebes said.

A massive security force cut off access to the residential area in Leganes, the site of two of the four train explosions on March 11. Thick grey smoke billowed out of the building, while a police helicopter used a spotlight to illuminate the site where ambulances and emergency medical stations had been set up.

Meanwhile, Spanish judicial officials on Friday freed four suspects arrested earlier in connection with the March 11 attacks, leaving a total of 15 suspects now facing charges while a further five are still being questioning.

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