Heavy terr act in Madrid

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by jasev
Giancarlo, please stop your PP propaganda. People are dying right now, so please leave politics at a side by the moment.

You don't think I am not mourning? I been on the phone for quite a bit to find and hope not any of my relatives were on that train.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

185 dead, over 1000 wounded latest count.

The US and certain other governments are hesitating from saying this is absolutely ETA.

Reasons:

1.) With the exception of the supermarket bombing (which ETA called a "mistake"), all attacks have been on judges, police, and other governmental authorities

2.) ETA historically gives warning. With this attack, there was no warning

3.) ETA also historically claims responsibility. There is yet to be any claim

4.) Simultaneous attacks against civilians are a hallmark of Al-Queda

5.) Spain had believe it had ETA on the run, meaning that ETA might not have had the ability for an attack on this scale

6.) Al-Queda has included Spain among its threats due to its close alliance with the United States in the war on terror

I'm not saying for sure, but this looks from the information here that ETA, if responsible, might have at least had help from a fundamentalist organization

[Boris Godunov]

Condolences to Spain, this is quite terrible.

I'm amazed at the coordination - 10 bombs went off, and another three were found and exploded by police. If it was ETA (which seems most likely), their level of sophistication seems to have markedly increased since their last attacks.

However, threatening the autonomy of the Basque region is ludicrous. ETA does not represent mainstream Basques, who are as horrified as any by this attack. Any "martial law" in Basque territory will simply make these bombings a success, as that is the precise aim of the ETA. They want such measures from Madrid to turn moderate Basques against the government and drive them into ETA arms.

Madrid needs to orchestrate a campaign with the Basque leadership against ETA, not take heavy-handed measures that will destroy the Basques' current reconciliation attempts.

[ixnay]

the train in spain blows up on the plain

3/11 never forget

In all seriousness, though, this is terrible.

[Giancarlo]

I said that when I was pretty angry. I still support their autonomy and further reconciliation.

2.) ETA historically gives warning. With this attack, there was no warning

3.) ETA also historically claims responsibility. There is yet to be any claim

4.) Simultaneous attacks against civilians are a hallmark of Al-Queda

5.) Spain had believe it had ETA on the run, meaning that ETA might not have had the ability for an attack on this scale

No I don't see how it could of been AL Qaeda. First off they found explosives that ETA stole. This was ETA. But it wouldn't surprise if me if Al Qaeda was in fact involved too.

I don't know what the reaction of Aznar will be.. I don't he will turn against the moderate Basques as that wouldn't be wise, but I think he will have the Civil Guard and Police look for who did this.

[our_man]

Terrible.

I've a few friends on ERASMUS in Madrid, no way to get in contact with them unfortunately. I hope they're OK. I hope anyone here who has family or friends in Madrid has heard from them and that they're well. This is a sickening act.

So ETA are denying responsibility. Interesting. My money's on them regardless. Is there any chance however a splinter group of ETA could have performed this, operating outside the main organization, similar to the RIRA in Ireland that was behind the Omagh bombing? Or is ETA more unified in purpose than the IRA? This might explain why ETA itself is denying knowledge.

Of course, the more likely possibility is that, well oops, they got a bit too carried away this time. They've got their cake but they've just discovered they don't like the way it tastes anymore. Either way, these guys are going the way the RIRA went after Omagh and Osama and his Allah queerboys after 9/11. They're history.

[Alfonso]

Originally posted by Giancarlo


Stop trying to politicize this. The PSOE is not going to win the election.

This was a terrorist attack by ETA, of abhorrent proportions. 187 dead. If anything the PP is going to win in the polls.

I think if we find who did this, we must reconsider bringing back the death penalty.

You could leave the policy for another day.

If we accepted the capital punishment we will be more terrorist than they.

[Bereta_Eder]

edit: reply to our_man post:
This is certain, if it was them. They've traumatized an entire country. However I still retain some minor doubts for the moment if it was them indeed.

[Gatekeeper]

The death toll's up to 190 now, over a thousand wounded.

I don't know what else to say, other than to offer my general condolences to the Spanish people, and to hope that the perpetrators and their supporters — where ever they may be — are brought to justice, either in a court of law or at the business end of a weapon. Their choice, really.

On a related note, I wonder if this has any link to that French group which placed bombs on railways there, then blackmailed the government to paying them off?

Gatekeeper

[Lonestar]

In the old days, terrorists would take responsibility for their crimes. Now, the ****ing chicken****s just melt away into the scenery.

[Shi Huangdi]

Just watching the TV, I think they may have found some Arbaic language Koranic Verse tapes with the attackers...

[Ned]

Shi, have they arrested any of the attackers?

[lightblue]

I haven't found or heard any information of whether or not this was a suicide attack. From what I can tell from the end results it seems as though the explosives went off above floor level of the train, which suggests a suicide attack (compare it to the bus bombings in Israel), as it'd be fairly hard to place explosives at that level without anyone having noticed anything. A placed bomb would more likely have been placed underneath the floor of the train, but the base does not seem damaged a lot on most of the pictures I have seen.

Suicide bombers would suggest Islamic extremists...

[Edan]

A TAPE with Koranic verses in Arabic and seven detonators were found
in a van suspected of being linked to the deadly bomb attacks in
Madrid today, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said.
The van, which had been reported stolen, was discovered in the east of
the capital, Acebes told a media conference.

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8944325%255E1702,00.html

[BeBMan]

It's on CNN as breaking news now too.