11 May 2004

MADRID – Crown Prince Felipe and his fiance Letizia Ortiz led mourners Tuesday who paid homage to those who were killed in the terrorist attacks two months ago.

The Royal couple, who will marry next week, led a party at Atocha station in the capital, where one of the trains was blown up on 11 March.

Ten bombs exploded on four rush-hour trains, killing 192 people and injuring more than 1,500.

Eighteen people are still in hospital suffering from serious injuries.

The Royal couple laid a floral wreath at the place where most people have left tributes in the station.

They also received eight children from the same school, Colegio Publico Cuidad de Valencia, in Santa Eugenia, who were all orphaned by the terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, the Spanish daily El Mundo reported Tuesday that the seven terrorists who blew themselves up on 3 April telephoned an imam imprisoned in London to get guidance.

The newspaper said Jordanian Abu Qatada, who has been in jail for two years in Britain for his links to al-Qaeda, gave the order for the group to blow themselves up.
 
The group killed themselves and a police officer who was part of a group of elite officers surrounding the flat where they were living in Leganes, a suburb of Madrid.

The group is also said to have called another imprisoned imam in Indonesia.

Abu Bakar Bashir is being held in jail in connection with the Bali terrorist bombing in 2002 in which 200 people were killed.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news