Madrid, Spain – A Spanish judge issued the first indictments in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, charging 29 people Tuesday with murder, terrorism or other crimes after a probe that uncovered a hornet’s nest of Islamic militancy but no apparent link to al-Qaeda.
In a minutely detailed indictment spanning 1,471 pages, Juan del Olmo, the investigative magistrate spearheading the probe, described the birth and workings of a cell of longtime residents, most of them from Morocco and Syria. Inspired by extremist Islamic doctrine, they are said to have risen up against their adopted homeland to kill 191 people and wound more than 1,700 in the coordinated attacks.
Three of the 29 people indicted were charged with 191 counts of murder and 1,755 counts of attempted murder, and three others with conspiracy to commit those crimes.
The first three include Jamal Zougam, a Moroccan merchant who allegedly supplied cellphones used as detonators in the 10 backpack bombs that ripped through four crowded commuter trains on the morning of March 11, 2004. When he was arrested two days later, Zougam said he was in bed asleep when the bombs went off and had nothing to do with the plot.
The two others are Emilio Suarez Trashorras, a Spaniard accused of supplying the dynamite used in the attacks, and Abdelmajid Bouchar, a Moroccan.
Rabei Osman, an Egyptian who has claimed the attacks were his idea, is among the three men accused of conspiracy to commit murder. He is on trial in Italy on separate terrorism-related charges.
Five of the six lead suspects also were charged with belonging to a terrorist organization, while 12 other men are accused of collaboration.
The indictment said four witnesses have identified Zougam as having been aboard trains that were bombed. One of the witnesses has identified him as “the person who places a dark-blue sports bag under his seat,” the indictment said.
