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| Europe |
| Madrid bombs’ MO may point to Zarqawi |
| 2004-03-13 |
| Which would make him the pivot man for this particular operation ... The bombs used in this week’s Madrid massacres were sophisticated devices that contained copper detonators and were set off by cell phones, U.S. and Spanish investigators said yesterday. The 11 bombs used in the attacks - one did not explode - were carefully placed in commonly available backpacks aboard four trains and had alarms in each set to go off precisely at 7:39 a.m., investigators added. "This was a really professional job carried out by people who clearly knew what they were doing," said a U.S. counterterrorism official who has been briefed on the details of the Spanish investigation. According to Spanish media reports, the backpacks were each stuffed with 22 pounds of a derivative of dynamite used in some land mines and artillery shells. U.S. officials said Spanish police were able to piece these important clues together from the 11th backpack in the wreckage of one of the trains in which the bomb apparently malfunctioned. That backpack contained explosive material and a copper cable connected to the explosives, as well as a loose unattached cell phone. Some counterterrorism officials told The Post devices and tactics used in the Madrid massacre, in some ways, has the hallmarks of the more sophisticated roadside bombs used against U.S. troops in Iraq - many of which were activated by cell phones. U.S. officials said that could suggest either al Qaeda or the vicious al Qaeda-connected network headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi. Over the next few days, Spanish investigators and FBI agents will be studying this device as well as other forensics to look for what investigators call a chemical "signature" to try to determine who was responsible. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |