On Tuesday, Spaniards remembered the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and injured over 1,400. King Juan Carlos attended a memorial ceremony commemorating the terrorist blasts four years ago. The ceremony took place outside of Atocha station, which was the destination of each of the four commuter trains targeted in the attacks. Other memorials were held elsewhere in and around Madrid on Tuesday, seemingly drawing less attention as the years go by, and paling in comparison to the reflection on the first anniversary. The attacks were carried out by radical Muslim groups and persons wearing backpack bombs, and carried out on behalf of al-Qaeda. Last October, a Spanish tribunal convicted 21 of 28 defendants in the case of various charges. The verdict said that the cell acted to wage holy war, and failed to mention the Spanish government’s support for the Iraq war – an assertion that had been made by militants in a video found just after the bombings.
