No political pretext can justify terrorism

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, March 13, 2004

No political pretext can justify terrorism

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Ten almost simultaneous explosions ripped through three busy Madrid train stations on Thursday, killing more than 190 rush-hour commuters and wounding at least 1,400. It is Spain's worst-ever terrorist attack in 30 years of separatist violence, and the bloodiest attack in post-war Western Europe.

This is a chilling reminder to the international community that the fires of terrorism continue to blaze and that victory in the war against terrorism is as yet nowhere in sight.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks across the Spanish capital three days before a national election, but the Spanish Government initially blamed ETA, the Basque separatist organization that has waged a campaign of bombings and assassinations for decades in pursuit of independence for the Basque region of northeast Spain.

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar vowed the government would arrest the "criminals" behind it.

Despite Spain's insistence on blaming the Basque group, some experts were reluctant to rule out al Qaida involvement.

Late in the day, a London-based Arabic newspaper said it had received an e-mail claiming responsibility from a group allegedly linked to the al Qaida terrorist organization.

US intelligence agencies said it was too early to decide who was behind the attack, but saw the hallmarks of both ETA and Osama bin Laden's al Qaida.

Al Qaida have ample motives to attack Spain, which has arrested a number of al Qaida suspects. They have targeted Spanish interests before, such as the May 2003 suicide bombing of a Spanish restaurant in Casablanca, Morocco.

No political pretext can justify this premeditated murder of the innocent en masse and at random, no matter who actually planned them.

We convey our deepest sympathies and condolences to the victims and the people of Spain, and express our strongest condemnation and opposition to this inhuman act.

Successive terrorist bombings send an explicit message to the whole world that governments should never let up, not at any time nor in any place, on co-operating in the fight against terrorism.

Ever since the September 11 attacks, the fight against terrorism has topped the global co-operation agenda.

In an increasingly interdependent international world, people around the globe have an increasingly clearer understanding that terrorism constitutes a common threat to civilized society and that stamping out terrorism requires the common effort of all members of the international community.

In response to Thursday's bombings, counter-terrorism experts met privately in Vienna in a renewed drive to pool data and expertise from nations, military forces and crime agencies in the global fight against terrorism.

A "Vienna Declaration" being hammered out at the conference, hosted by the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, warned that agencies risk overlooking some aspects of the terrorist threat while duplicating efforts on other fronts.

It must also be kept in mind that the road ahead is still as rocky as it has always been and the job of eradicating terrorism in all forms no less tough. Most importantly, it will be extremely hard to get rid of the soil from which terrorism grows.

Only by getting rid of the root causes of terrorism can it be stemmed and finally eliminated.

Intense investigations into the attack are being conducted, and we hope that those who plotted this abhorrent slaughter of innocents will be brought to justice at an early date.

Source: China Daily

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