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| Europe |
| More on the al-Qaeda claim responsibility for Madrid booms |
| 2004-03-11 |
| The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said Thursday it had received a claim of responsibility issued by The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri in the name of Al-Qaida for the Madrid terrorist attacks that killed at least 190 people and wounded 1,247. The claim received by email at the paper’s London offices said the brigade’s "death squad" had penetrated "one of the pillars of the crusade alliance, Spain." "This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America’s ally in its war against Islam," the claim said. Referring to Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the statement asked: "Aznar, where is America? Who will protect you, Britain, Japan, Italy and others from us?" Earlier Thursday evening, police probing the attacks found a van with detonators and an Arabic-language tape with Koranic verses, and officials don’t rule out any line of investigation, said Interior Minister Angel Acebes. The van was found in the town of Alcala de Henares outside Madrid following a tip from neighbors. On the front seat police found seven detonators and the tape, Acebes told a news conference. "Because of this, I have just given instructions to the security forces not to rule out any line of investigation," Acebes said. He said the armed Basque group ETA remained the "main line of investigation" in the deadly blasts. Three of the four trains bombed Thursday originated in Alcala de Henares and one passed through it, the state rail company RENFE said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #18 Geez, reading WAAYYY to much. DOH! |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-3-11 11:42:55 PM |
| #17 Well, there's a letter, currently Spain aligned itself w/US, we can kill their children but they can't kill ours, yada, yada, yada And they're STILL pissed they lost Andalusia to the Crusaders centuries ago. |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-3-11 11:39:45 PM |
| #16 As much as I dislike the French politcal class and French military duplicity during the Yugoslav bombings, I don't believe the French troops are cowardly. I just think that French and American calculations are so far apart that I would not trust any French institution. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-3-11 9:52:14 PM |
| #15 I hope that all of your relatives and friends are safe, JFM. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-3-11 7:50:49 PM |
| #14 and San Diego is....the patron saint of underachieving football teams. Soon to change, dammit! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-3-11 7:38:40 PM |
| #13 Santiago is the patron of Spain. It is also a popular name between Spanish. Now Yosemite Sam, ruprecht and others as someone who is half Spanish and has lived hours of anguish about my relatives in Spain I would tell you that this is no moment for jokes. |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-3-11 6:39:55 PM |
| #12 Santiago = Saint James. Tiago is a Galician (Gallego) form of James, related to Sapnish Diego. The reconquista began in Galicia. |
| Posted by: buwaya 2004-3-11 6:34:33 PM |
| #11 Correction - ETA did do this on occasion, one being a carbomb in front of a Bilbao supermarket. ETA did try to do this exact thing last December, with multiple bombs - not as many though. |
| Posted by: buwaya 2004-3-11 6:32:38 PM |
| #10 Did you know the Redcoats used to wear red so that if an officer was shot the blood wouldn't show as much so as not to freak out the troops. And that is why French officers wear brown trowsers to this day. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-3-11 5:19:41 PM |
| #9 "St. James and close in Spain!" At least that's what a book tells me. That was an old battle cry of the Spanish military order of Santiago during the Reconquista. |
| Posted by: Christopher Johnson 2004-3-11 4:58:56 PM |
| #8 This is 100% Al-Qeada! ETA don't do these mass simultanious killings. Spain was the HQ for 9/11 planners, there's plenty of tunsian, algerian, arab killers there. |
| Posted by: CobraCommander 2004-3-11 4:51:57 PM |
| #7 Translation,please.Chris. |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-3-11 4:51:50 PM |
| #6 Guess we'll have to get this old cry out again. "Santiago y cierra España!" |
| Posted by: Christopher Johnson 2004-3-11 4:17:52 PM |
| #5 This may force the French to raise their alert level to White. That's bad -- the only stage above that is yellow. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-3-11 4:07:52 PM |
| #4 check the thugburg link "The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri" is only known based on faxes and letters to arab media outlets claiming AQ credit for various horrors, notably the Istanbul bombings and the Baghdad bombings last summer. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-3-11 4:05:12 PM |
| #3 This certainly sounds like the retoric that we have heard from Al-Quiada in the past, even-so I'm still not convinced that it is them though. |
| Posted by: Evert Visser 2004-3-11 4:02:38 PM |
| #2 This certainly sounds like the retoric that we have heard from Al-Quiada in the past, even-so I'm still not convinced that it is them though. |
| Posted by: Evert Visser 2004-3-11 4:01:27 PM |
| #1 This may force the French to raise their alert level to White. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2004-3-11 3:54:25 PM |