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11 March 2004
MADRID – Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Thursday Spain would not be beaten by terrorism after bomb blasts killed at least 190 people in Madrid.
The “mass murderers” would be totally defeated, Aznar added.
Aznar did not mention ETA, but other members of his government have blamed the attacks on the terrorist group.
No group has claimed responsibility for the explosions.
Speaking in a live television address Thursday, Aznar spoke with the Spanish flag behind him wrapped with a black sash as a sign of mourning.
“Terrorism is not blind and they did not kill so many people simply because they were Spaniards,” he said.
He added that recent planned terrorist attacks had been stopped – referring to the two ETA terrorists who were arrested near Madrid with a lorry-load of more than half a tonne of explosives last month.
Aznar said that whoever was behind the attacks Thursday would be caught, tried in courts of law and imprisoned.
“They will not have another other horizon but to see out all their days looking at the walls of a prison,” he added.
Aznar reiterated his determination not to negotiate with terrorists.
President George W Bush called Aznar earlier Thursday to express his ‘solidarity’ in the fight against terrorism.
King Juan Carlos was expected to deliver a live television address to the nation later Thursday.
Queen Sofia, her son Crown Prince Felipe and his fiancée, former television journalist Letizia Ortiz, visited the families of the injured in a Madrid hospital.
[Copyright EFE with Expatica]
Subject: Spanish news