Death toll in Madrid railway explosions climbs to 192

The Spanish government has blamed the Basque separatist group ETA for this morning's bomb attacks in Madrid which killed at least 192 people and injured more than 1,400 as a letter purporting to be from Al Qaeda claiming responsibility for the attack was received by a London newspaper.

This evening a letter claiming to be from Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network claimed responsibility for the bombings , calling them strikes against "crusaders", a London-based Arabic newspaper said.

Earlier however, Spain's Interior Minister Mr Angel Acebes said it was "absolutely clear that the terrorist organisation ETA was seeking an attack with wide repercussions".

"Any attempt to divert attention from those responsible for the attack is intolerable," he told a press conference.

Earlier, the political party connected to ETA denied responsibility for the four almost simultaneous attacks in three railway stations at 7.30 a.m. (6.30 a.m. Irish time). Police said there were 13 explosions in total, three of which were controlled by security forces.

According to Spanish newspaper reports, the toll, which has risen steadily since this morning, has now reached 192. "We are still finding victims inside some of the carriages," a Spanish government spokesman said.

The blasts took place at the Madrid station of Atocha, the southern Madrid station of El Pozo and at Santa Eugenia. A fourth explosion was reported later this morning. There was no warning given before any of the bombs.

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar pledged those responsible would be arrested. In a televised address, Mr Aznar said the victims were killed "simply for being Spanish".

"The criminals who have caused so many deaths today will be arrested," he said. "We will succeed in finishing off the terrorist band," he said, employing the term used by the government to refer to ETA, but not naming it.

Mr Arnold Otegi of the Basque party Batasuna told Radio Popular that ETA always phones in warnings before it attacks. "The modus operandi, the high number of victims and the way it was carried out make me think, and I have a hypothesis in mind, that yes it may have been an operative cell from the Arab resistance," he said.

Batasuna was banned by the Spanish government in 2002 on the grounds that it was part of ETA. The party, which won 10 per cent of the vote in 2001 Basque parliamentary elections, denies the charge.

"Those responsible for this tragedy will be arrested and they will pay very dearly for it," Mr Angel said, adding that Spain is "not ruling anything out" in its investigation of who is responsible.

The explosions came three days before Spain's national election on Sunday. The election run-up has focused on the ruling party's tough line against ETA.

Spain's ruling Popular Party (PP) has now suspended its campaign for the election, its leader and prime ministerial candidate Mr Mariano Rajoy said. "Spain is in mourning. These criminal terrorists are sowing death and suffering not just in Madrid but in the whole of Spain."

Last month, ETA declared a ceasefire limited to the northeastern region of Catalonia but made clear it would pursue the armed struggle in the rest of the country.

Less than two weeks ago police arrested two suspected ETA members who were heading for Madrid with a van containing 500 kilos (1,100 lbs) of explosives, averting a possible massacre in the capital.

Last Christmas Eve, police thwarted an attempted bombing at Chamartin, another Madrid rail station, and arrested two suspected ETA members.

The Basque group has killed over 800 people since it began its violent separatist campaign in the 1960s. If today's attack is confirmed to have been the work of ETA, it would be the highest single death toll in any of the group's hundreds of incidents over the past decades. Until now it was 21 dead in a supermarket blast in Barcelona in 1987. ETA killed three people last year, compared to 23 in 2000 and 15 in 2001.

"What a horror," said the Basque regional president, Mr Juan Jose Ibarretxe, who insisted ETA does not represent the Basque people. "When ETA attacks, the Basque heart breaks into a thousand pieces."

"This is one of those days that you don't want to live through," said opposition Socialist party spokesman Mr Jesus Caldera. "ETA must be defeated," he said, referring to the group as "those terrorists, those animals".

Agencies