A judge filed charges early yesterday against four more suspects in the Madrid train bombings and ordered them held pending further investigation.
The judge charged three Moroccans and a Spaniard with terrorism and mass killings for their alleged participation in the bombings, which killed 202 people, wounded 1,800 and helped drive the ruling right-of-center government from power.
PHOTO: EPA
A fifth suspect, a Moroccan arrested with the others yesterday, was released without charges.
The charges came after six hours of questioning at the National Court, and bring to nine the number of people charged in the March 11 bombings. Six are Moroccan.
Suspicion over the 10 bombs targeting Madrid commuter trains has focused on an alleged Morocco-based terrorist cell believed to have links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and on al-Qaeda itself.
All three Moroccans questioned into the early hours yesterday denied involvement in the Madrid attacks. One left the courtroom in tears. Another said that when he learned of the attacks the morning of March 11, he was at home watching cartoons with his children, court officials said.
The charges stop short of a formal indictment, but suggest the court has strong evidence against the suspects. They can remain in jail two years while investigators gather more evidence.
A total of 13 people are now in custody over the bombing. The latest four arrests came Monday in Madrid. Those four, believed to be of North African origin, have yet to appear before a judge.
Spaniard Jose Emilio Suarez, accused of providing explosives for the attacks, was charged with 190 counts of murder, 1,430 counts of attempted murder, robbery and collaborating or belonging to a terrorist organization. Court officials said the latter charge will be specified further as the probe continues. The figure of 190 cited by the judge is the number of bodies officially identified so far.
Moroccan Abderrahim Zbakh, who cried as he left the courtroom, was charged with all those same offenses except robbery, officials said.
Mohamed El Hadi Chedadi and Abdelouahid Berrak, also Moroccans, were charged with collaborating with or belonging to a terrorist organization.
Berrak said he knows lead suspect Jamal Zougam because they own a barber shop together. Berrak also said he was an acquaintance of Imad Yarkas, the accused leader of an alleged Spanish al-Qaeda cell who was arrested in Madrid in November 2001.
The freed suspect was named as Farid Oulad Ali. Judge Juan del Olmo said there was insufficient evidence against him.
Zougam, a Moroccan immigrant who is the prime suspect in the Madrid bombings, and two other Moroccans have been jailed on multiple counts of murder, and two Indians have been jailed on charges of collaborating with a terrorist group.
The scale of the attacks was reflected in the government's decision to hold a state funeral today for those slain.
It is the first time since democracy was restored after General Francisco Franco's death in 1975 that a state funeral has been held for anyone other than a member of the royal family, government officials said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
RSS