Spain bomb probe nears conclusion

[Talon]

Spain bomb probe nears conclusion

By Katya Adler

BBC News, Madrid

The parliamentary commission set up to investigate events surrounding the 2004 Madrid train bombings is to present its conclusions about the attacks.

Among the commission's aims was to establish whether more could have been done to stop them.

But there is disagreement within the commission as to whether the investigation is actually over.

The attacks on commuter trains on 11 March 2004 - three days before Spain's general elections - killed 191 people.

The parliamentary commission has held hundreds of meetings, called high profile witnesses - including former and current prime ministers - and made constant headlines in the Spanish press.

But there is no fanfare as it presents its conclusions about Spain's worst-ever extremist attack. Instead, there will just be closed-door talks.

Dissent

The problem is that there is dissent amongst the individual political parties that make up the commission. Most of them agree that the conservative Popular Party previously in government failed to appreciate the threat posed to Spain by Islamic radicals, especially after its outspoken support for the Iraq war.

They also accuse the Popular Party of misleading the Spanish public about who was behind the Madrid bomb attacks, suggesting the armed Basque separatist group Eta was to blame.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, the Popular Party rejects these findings. It says it wants to call more witnesses and insists the parliamentary investigation in to the Madrid bombings is not yet over.

Spain's political parties have little time left, though, to draw up some common conclusions. The lower house of parliament is set to vote on their findings at the end of the month.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/worl...ope/4072650.stm