Two more suspects have been charged in connection with the deadly Madrid commuter railroad bombings, authorities said.
Judge Juan del Olmo jailed Rafa Zuher and Naima Oulad Akcha on charges of collaborating with a terrorist group after questioning them separately for more than six hours, court officials said on Wednesday.
The two suspects, both Moroccans, were arrested last weekend. They denied the charges and condemned the March 11 bombings, court officials said.
Spanish authorities have arrested a total of 15 suspects in connection with the bombings -- 11 Moroccans, two Indians, one Algerian and a Spaniard. One of the Moroccans and the Algerian were released. Thirteen remain in custody, of whom 11 now have been charged.
The attacks killed 190 people and injured at least 1,800 others.
Five suspects have been charged with mass murder and belonging to a terrorist group and six have been charged with collaboration.
All but the two Indian suspects are being held in solitary confinement without access to lawyers or family. With the exception of the Spaniard, all of the charged have denied any involvement in the attacks.
The charges stop short of a formal indictment but suggest that the court has strong evidence against them. They can be jailed up to two years while investigators gather more evidence.
Akcha is the first woman arrested in the case. She is the sister of Khalid Oulad Akcha, who was jailed in a separate case but brought to Madrid under Del Olmo's orders.
Suspicion in the attacks 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.
Investigators have analyzed a videotape in which a man claiming to speak on behalf of al-Qaeda said the group carried out the Madrid attack in reprisal for Spain's backing of the US-led war in Iraq.
The prime suspect in the bombings is Jamal Zougam, an immigrant from Morocco. Spanish court documents have linked him to members of an al-Qaeda cell in Spain.
Unconfirmed news reports on Wednesday said Spanish police had identified five of eight people they suspect carried out the attacks, including the alleged cell leader.
The Periodico de Catalunya daily newspaper said Zougam's fingerprints were found in a van that was discovered just hours after the bombings near a train station outside Madrid. Detonators and a cassette tape of verses from the Quran were found in the van.
The arrested Spaniard, Jose Emilio Suarez, has reportedly admitted having helped provide explosives to the Moroccans.
The Spanish royal family wept as they comforted row after row of mourners, clasping hands and kissing cheeks at Wednesday's state funeral for the 190 people killed in the attacks.
On a cold, overcast day, King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and the rest of the royal family joined French President Jacques Chirac, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair and Prince Charles, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and more than a dozen other heads of state or government in the 19th century Almudena Cathedral.
"We have cried, and we have cried together," Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, clad in purple vestments, told the congregation of about 1,500.
The attacks traumatized Spain so deeply that the government took the extraordinary step of holding a state funeral for people outside the royal family.
The organist played the Spanish national anthem as the royal family entered the granite cathedral in Madrid's old quarter. Later, incense wafted through the air as a choir clad in blue gowns sang mournful hymns.
The royal family sat up front during the Mass, with the Spanish government and other politicians immediately behind, including Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and his successor, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Foreign dignitaries sat on the left side of the aisle.
"Great pain has filled your lives and those of your families since that black day in which brutal terrorist violence, planned and executed with unspeakable cruelty, ended the lives of your most beloved," Rouco Varela said.
"From the very first moment -- that of the anguished search and the inevitable identification of your loved ones -- your pain became the pain of our dear city of Madrid, of Spain, and very quickly, of the whole world," he added.
Before the Mass began, one unidentified man in the congregation shouted, "Mr. Aznar, I hold you responsible for the death of my son!"
Neither Aznar nor anyone in his government went to see grieving relatives at the funeral.
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
RSS