Spaniards hold anti-war rallies

Spaniards observe the candles and messages placed around the main hall of the Atocha railway station in Madrid, Spain, on Friday. One week after the train bombings that killed over 200 people and wounded more than 1,800, the once boisterous capital of Spain is in silence and struggles to get back to normality. PHOTO: AP

Thousands of Spaniards were expected to join anti-war marches on the anniversary of the Iraq invasion yesterday as police continued to hunt suspects over the devastating Madrid train bombings.

Protests were scheduled across Europe a year after coalition troops launched the invasion to seek out Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction and topple the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.

But they were to take on an added sense of poignancy in Madrid, still reeling from Spain's worst ever terror attack on March 11, when suspected Islamic extremists killed 202 people in a series of blasts on commuter trains.

The attacks led to the downfall of Spain's pro-US government in elections three days later and rocked the US-led coalition in Iraq, with the incoming government vowing to withdraw Spanish troops by June without a UN mandate.

The Madrid bombings, the worst terror attack in Europe in 15 years, have fueled fears that terrorists are bent on hurting countries which support the US-led coalition in Iraq, particularly in Britain, Italy and Poland.

Prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who won last weekend's elections on a wave of anti-war anger heightened by the carnage here, has described the occupation of Iraq as a "fiasco."

His threat to pull the country's 1,300 troops out of Iraq is an about-face for one of the main supporters in Europe of the US-led "coalition of the willing," and has led to criticism from some quarters that Madrid has caved in to terrorists.

"It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that this has been a victory for international terrorism because the [election] result seems directly attributable to the attacks," Brookings Institution senior fellow Philip Gordon told El Pais newspaper.

US President George W. Bush, in a speech on Friday to mark the first anniversary of the Iraq invasion, said there could be no "separate peace with the terrorist enemy" and warned against "any sign of weakness or retreat".

But incoming Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told broadcaster CNN that Spain's proposed withdrawal of troops from Iraq did not mean it was renouncing the struggle against terrorism.

"Repatriating 1,300 soldiers does not mean that Spain is modifying its commitment to the struggle against terrorism," he said late Friday.

"It is not going to change the future of Iraq. This is a false debate. What is up for debate is how we can reinforce the political and democratic process and security in Iraq."

Spanish police are seeking four Moroccans who are believed to have stolen the explosives used in the Madrid bombings, the daily El Pais reported yesterday.

The only Spanish national detained in connection with the March 11 bombings has told investigators he drove the attack's plotters to a mine in the northern town of Asturies a Aviles where 100kg of explosives were stolen in February, a source close the investigation told the daily.

A former miner with a record of drugs trafficking and illegal arms possession, he said he met the Moroccans in January in a Madrid bar.

They had said they were searching for explosives for use in a mine in Morocco, and the Spaniard told them he knew where unguarded explosives could be found and later drove them to the site.

Ten people have been detained in connection with last week's bombings.