Interior Minister Angel Acebes said yesterday that the bomb found at a high-speed rail line a day earlier was made of the same type of explosives used in the Madrid terrorist bombings.
"The explosives are the same as those used on March 11, but at this moment the investigation is continuing ... to try to determine who is behind it," Acebes said in Madrid.
Investigators have said the March 11 bombings were carried out with Spanish dynamite -- Goma 2 Eco. The attack killed 191 people and injured 1,800.
On Friday morning, authorities immediately stopped six bullet trains using the Madrid-Seville line after the discovery of the 12kg bomb under a track about 60km south of Madrid. The bomb failed to detonate because it wasn't properly connected, officials said.
About 1,600 passengers left their trains and were taken to their destinations by charter buses. Train service was restored yesterday.
No train was near the site when the bomb was discovered, state rail officials said.
The discovery rattled a country still traumatized by the March 11 attacks, which officials believe may have been carried out by an Islamic extremist group from Morocco. Authorities on Friday stepped up security on Spain's entire rail network, with soldiers providing surveillance.
Judge Teresa Palacio, the magistrate on duty on Friday at the National Court, said there was no evidence pointing to either the armed Basque separatist group ETA or the al-Qaeda terrorist network in the failed attack, a court official said. ETA has targeted Spanish rail lines in the past.
Because the bag was dry and the ground was wet, authorities believe it was placed at the scene on Friday. A 135m-long cable attached to a detonator looked new.
Acebes said on Friday that the bomber or bombers may have been scared away by security guards as they planted the device.
There was no warning about the bomb, he said.
The line where the bomb was found mainly serves Spain's AVE bullet trains, which have a maximum speed of 305kph, although some slower trains do use it.
Spain's entire rail system will get a new security system employing helicopters, four-wheel-drive cars and armored vehicles from the Spanish army.
Meanwhile, a Spanish judge on Friday charged a 15th suspect for the March 11 bombings. The government has said its investigation is focused on the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which has links to al-Qaeda.
Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported yesterday that the Spanish embassy in Egypt received a letter from an Islamic militant group threatening new attacks if Spain doesn't withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the letter, the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, a group that also claimed responsibility for the March 11 attacks, threatened to strike against Spanish diplomatic missions in North Africa and the Mediterranean region unless Spanish troops were withdrawn in four weeks.
A Spanish diplomat in Cairo, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the embassy received a threatening letter signed by Abu Hafs after the commuter train attacks last month.
The US believes the Abu Hafs group lacks credibility and has only tenuous ties to al-Qaeda. In the past, the group has claimed responsibility for events to which they were not connected -- such as last summer's blackouts in North America and Britain.
Six of the 15 suspects Spain is holding for the March 11 bombings are charged with mass murder, while the remaining nine are accused of collaborating with or belonging to a terrorist organization.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique