announced it has discovered a video tape claiming Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network was responsible for the Madrid bombings, which killed at least 200 people and injured over 1400 others.
At a hastily arranged press conference, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said a man identifying himself as the military spokesman of al-Qaida in Europe claimed the group was responsible for the second deadliest attack in Europe since World War II. Only the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killed more people than Thursday’s attacks as 259 people died on the plane and 11 on the ground.
"We declare our responsibility for what happened in Madrid exactly 2 1/2 years after the attacks on New York and Washington," said the man, according to a government translation of the tape, which was recorded in Arabic. "It is a response to your collaboration with the criminals (President) Bush and his allies."
The tape also allegedly threatened that al-Qaida will carry out more and even bloodier attacks in Spain if the country continues to cooperate with the U.S in Washington’s declared war on terror. "If you don’t stop your injustices more blood will flow and these attacks are very little compared with what may happen with what you call terrorism," it said.
CAUTION OVER CLAIM
But Acebes cautioned that authorities could not yet confirm the claim on the videotape, which was discovered after an Arabic-speaking man called a Madrid TV station and said where it could be found.
British intelligence officials have already put "cold water" over the claims amid doubts over the man’s identity, the Cable News Network (CNN) reported. Earlier another Arab organization, The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, had claimed responsibility for the blasts in the name of al-Qaida
The Bask separatist terror group ETA has denied involvement in the attack but neither claim has been verified. U.S President George W. Bush urged viewers on Spanish television this week to discount rumors and "see the facts." He offered Washington’s support to help find those responsible.
News about the alleged al Qaida video tape came just hours before polls were scheduled to open for general elections. Analysts said possible al-Qaida involvement could bring voters to the opposition as the Spanish Government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar supported the U.S-led war in Iraq, which many Spanish people opposed.
ARRESTS MADE
Spanish police on Saturday, March 13, also arrested five bombing suspects, identified as three Moroccans and two Indians, as funeral services for victims were held across the country where church leaders, including Baptists and evangelicals, denounced violence and prayed to comfort the wounded nation.
In a statement monitored by ASSIST News Service (ANS) the World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed in a message of solidarity with the "deep solidarity with the victims of the atrocity, their families and all the people of Spain". It urged "Christian vocation to oppose any form of violence" and "commitment to seeking peace", and praises the "solidarity and immediate support to the victims by the Spanish people and churches".
Praying Spanish Christians and missionary workers were among an estimated 11 million outraged and shocked people, more than a quarter of the nation’s population, who marched Friday, March 12, in what was described as “the largest anti-terrorism marches in Spanish history.”
BAPTIST MISSIONARY
In Madrid, American Baptist missionary Samuel Escobar said that members of the Baptist Seminary at the Spanish capital gathered for a time of prayer and later went to the city hall to participate in a quiet demonstration against terrorism and what some have described "the EU’s 9-11", a reference to the September 11 attacks in the U.S.
"We thank God for protection, and we ask your prayers that God’s people may be able to offer comfort and help to the many hurting people in this country," the American Baptist News Service (ABNS) quoted him as saying.
The general secretary of the Union of Evangelical Baptists of Spain, Manuel Sarrias Martinez, said that “Spanish Baptists share a deep sense of shock and sadness” and that they “joined together with other evangelical Christians in Spain to publicly denounce the use of violence by any means”, ABNS reported.
JOINING IN MOURNING
"We join you in mourning the death and injury of so many innocent people. Please know that we hold these victims, their families and the people of Spain in our prayers,” said Reid Trulson, American Baptist International Ministries’ area director for Europe and the Middle East, in a letter published by ABNS.
"In prayer we ask the Spirit of God to anoint the churches of the Union of Evangelical Baptists of Spain with great compassion and power. With a renewed strength that comes from above, may you bring to those around you the good news of forgiveness, salvation and healing in Jesus Christ our Lord," he said.
Trulson stressed that American Baptists had been encouraged by the support of many global partners after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001. No American Baptist missionaries serving in Spain or Spanish Baptist partners were reportedly harmed in the attacks.
POPE URGES PEACE
Pope John Pope II said earlier that the "unjustifiable acts offend God, violate the fundamental right to life and eradicate peaceful community living". The pontiff added that he felt "the affliction and sorrow of the wounded and their families, and that he prayed constantly for them and for the dead, as well as for peace and the end of terrorism in Spain."
The Spanish prime minister pledged this week that "no negotiation is possible or desirable with these assassins who so many times have sown death all around Spain."
