Madrid Train Bombings Kill 191: Spain's Deadliest Attack
Ten coordinated bomb blasts tore through four commuter trains on Madrid's Cercanias rail network during the morning rush hour on March 11, 2004, killing 191 people and wounding nearly 2,000 in Spain's deadliest terrorist attack. The bombs, concealed in backpacks, detonated between 7:37 and 7:40 AM at Atocha, El Pozo, and Santa Eugenia stations. The ruling Popular Party initially blamed the Basque separatist group ETA, but forensic evidence quickly pointed to an al-Qaeda-inspired cell of North African jihadists. The government's attempt to pin the attack on ETA, three days before national elections, backfired catastrophically when the truth emerged. Voters punished the PP at the polls, handing power to the Socialist Party, which immediately withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq. The attack demonstrated that terrorism could directly alter democratic elections in a Western nation and that al-Qaeda's network had extended well beyond its Afghan base.
March 11, 2004
22 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Spain
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Madrid
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Madrid Train Bombings
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Madrid train bombings
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2004 Madrid train bombings
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Madrid
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Estación de Atocha-Cercanías
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Estación de El Pozo
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Estación de Santa Eugenia
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Spain
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Provincia de Almería
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Cajalmería
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Unicaja
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1991
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Comisión Europea
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Place du Trocadéro-et-du-11-Novembre
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16e arrondissement de Paris
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Juan Carlos I
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Queen Sofía of Spain
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Wald der Erinnerung (Madrid)
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Parque del Retiro de Madrid
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Parlamentswahl in Spanien 2004
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People's Party (Spain)
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José María Aznar
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Al-Qaeda
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صحيفة القدس العربي
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What Else Happened on March 11
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The Jesuits armed thousands of Indigenous converts with European muskets and cavalry tactics, then watched them outmaneuver Portuguese slave raiders at their ow…
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