Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Group claiming responsible for Madrid bombings threatens more attacks
A group which has claimed responsibility for March 11 bombings in Madrid has threatened to launch more attacks if Spain does not withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, a Spanish newspaper said Monday.
A group which has claimed responsibility for March 11 bombings in Madrid has threatened to launch more attacks if Spain does not withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, a Spanish newspaper said Monday.
In a letter sent to the daily ABC at this weekend, the group warned that Spain would fall "into an inferno" unless it halted its support for the United States and withdrew its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The letter was written in Arabic and signed by Abu Dujana Al Afgani, Ansar Group, al-Qaida in Europe, the same person who claimed responsibility for the March 11 bombings in a video found outside a Madrid mosque days after the deadly attacks.
The letter set a deadline of April 4 for Spain to end support for the United States and withdraw troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"If these demands are not met, we will declare war on you and we swear by Allah the highest and most sublime that we will convert your country into an inferno and your blood will flow likerivers," the letter read.
The group said that it had showed its force with the attacks onMarch 11 and the planting of an unexploded bomb along the high-speed railway line linking Madrid and the Seville last week.
The bombings of four Madrid commuter trains on March 11, the deadliest terrorist attacks in Spain's history, killed 191 people and injured over 1,900.