[AP/Washington Post] Paul Haven - Spain's National Court convicted the three main suspects in the Madrid commuter train bombings of mass murder Wednesday and sentenced them to tens of thousands of years in prison for Europe's worst terror attack by Islamic militants. Jamal Zougam of Morocco was convicted of placing at least one bomb on a train and Othman Gnaoui, also of Morocco, was convicted of being a right-hand man of the plot's operational chief. Emilio Suarez Trashorras of Spain was found guilty of supplying the explosives used in the bombs. Four other key defendants were convicted of lesser offenses, while an accused ringleader was acquitted altogether. Bombs exploded on four trains on March 11, 2004, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,800. The train bombing suspects were mostly young Muslim men who allegedly acted out of allegiance to al-Qaeda to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The seven men considered the true ringleaders of the attack blew themselves up at an apartment on the outskirts of Madrid as police moved in to arrest them three weeks after the bombings.
2007-11-01 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive