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Spain was ripped apart by its ownversion of Sept. 11 yesterday whena series of bombings shatteredcommuter trains and railway sta-tions across Madrid, killing 192people and injuring more than1,400. The attacks were first blamedon Basque separatists but may havebeen the work of al-Qaeda.

Ten bombs, which some reportssaid were carried in backpacks, ex-ploded within a span of severalminutes during rush hour, turningrail carriages into twisted steel andcovering platforms with corpsesand human remains. Rescue work-ers reported hearing the eerie ring-ing of cellphones on the bodies ofthe victims as desperate relativestried to contact their loved ones.

The Spanish government, whichfaces a general election Sunday,immediately blamed ETA, the no-torious Basque terrorist group.

“This is mass murder,” a sombrePrime Minister Jose Maria Aznarsaid after an emergency cabinetmeeting. He vowed to hunt downthe attackers and ruled out negoti-ations with ETA.

Doubt was cast on that assess-ment of blame when a van wasfound with an Arabic-languageaudio tape and seven detonators,and a British-based newspaper re-ceived an e-mail that purported tobe from al-Qaeda and claimed re-sponsibility for the attack.

Spain was a high-profile ally ofthe United States and Britain dur-ing the war in Iraq, and Osama binLaden has threatened to punishMadrid for supporting the coali-tion. In London, the Arabic-lan-guage newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabisaid it had received a claim of re-sponsibility issued in the name ofal-Qaeda, signed by a group calledthe Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri.

“This is part of settling old ac-counts with Spain, the crusader,and America’s ally in its war againstIslam,” the message said.

Mr. Aznar had a different assess-ment, saying that “March 11, 2004,now holds its place in the history ofinfamy.” King Juan Carlos addedhis own condemnation in a tele-vised address, saying that the day

had “engulfed Spain with profoundpain, repulsion and anger.”

Campaigning for Sunday’s elec-tion was called off and the govern-ment declared three days ofmourning for the most deadly ter-rorist attack in Europe since thebombing of a Pan Am airliner overLockerbie, Scotland, which killed270 people. It was also 21⁄2 years tothe day since the Sept. 11 attacks inNew York and Washington.

The bombs began going off at7:39 a.m., targeting three railwaystations, including the historic Ato-cha station, as well as four trainsrunning along commuter lines.

10 bombs kill 192 Spanish commuters in a terrorist strike by Basque militants or even al-Qaeda

‘Mass murder’ in Madrid

DENIS DOYLE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rescue workers line up bodies beside the tracks at Madrid’s Atocha railway station yesterday, after one of a series of bombings just days before Spaniards vote in a general election.

See BOMBINGS on page A14

BY ALAN FREEMANIN MADRID

Auberge arson chargeThe owner of the Auberge Grand-Mère, the scandal-plagued hotel inJean Chrétien’s riding, has beencharged with arson and fraud. A4

Budget focuses on youthLearning and young people will becentral themes in the March 23federal budget, including im-proved student loans and newgrants for low-income students. A4 Stephen Harper appears on the

edge of a first-ballot victory in therace for Conservative leader,according to sources familiar withthe party’s bursting membershiprolls and the recruitment drives ofthe three candidates.

Sources said yesterday that for-mer auto executive Belinda Stro-nach has come up short in her ef-fort to recruit the 50,000 to 100,000members that her campaignerssaid they needed to tilt the race intheir candidate’s favour. A partydocument released yesterday

showed that the Stronach cam-paign sold 20,000 direct member-ships, a number officials say is notenough to overtake the lead of Mr.Harper.

Sources also said the Harpercampaign has produced an internalpoll of party members that shows57 per cent would choose the for-mer Canadian Alliance leader.

Supporters of Mr. Harper are qui-etly predicting their candidate willachieve between 45 per cent and 55per cent of the vote on the first bal-lot.

Harper set to triumphas Stronach falls short

See CONSERVATIVE on page A4

Sources say her recruitment drive stalledBY BRIAN LAGHI, OTTAWA

It was just after 11 yesterdaymorning when Freddy Variasfirst got a hint that something

was terribly wrong with his friendNeil Torres Mendoza.

“We got a call at the constructionsite,” Mr. Varias, a 50-year-oldbricklayer, recalled. “They were try-ing to find Neil to tell him that hiswife was seriously injured in hospi-tal. But Neil wasn’t around. Hehadn’t turned up at work.”

Mr. Varias and his fellow work-ers, a multinational group of Ecua-doreans, Spaniards, Peruvians,Moroccans and Romanians, beganto worry. By 4 p.m., they had foundout the horrible truth. Mr. Mendozawas dead, one of the nearly 200 vic-tims of yesterday morning’s terror-ist attacks at three Madrid railwaystations.

His wife, a maid who was on thetrain with him, was among the se-riously injured.

“She was conscious and the first

thing she said was, ‘Where is myhusband?’ ” Mr. Varias said. “Weknew he had died but we couldn’ttell her what had happened. Shedoesn’t know yet that he’s dead.”

The young couple were typical ofmany victims of yesterday’s at-tacks, which hit commuter trainslong before Spain’s white-collarwork force heads to the office.Many of those killed at Atocha rail-way station were immigrants, LatinAmericans and Eastern Europeanswho do many of the construction,

cleaning and restaurant jobsshunned by affluent Spaniards.

Last night, seven of Mr. Mend-oza’s friends travelled togetherwith his brother to the makeshiftmorgue set up in Pavilion No. 6 atMadrid’s giant suburban conven-tion centre to identify the body.

Only one of them was allowed toaccompany the brother into themorgue, so the rest stood outsidereminiscing about their friend.

Injured woman calls in vain for husbandBY ALAN FREEMAN, MADRID

See VICTIMS on page A15

When Todd Bertuzzi at-tacked Steve Moore, ColinCampbell looked up from

his bowl of honey-nut Cheerios andhoped the late-night sugar fix wasaffecting his sight.

It wasn’t. So he put down hisspoon and rolled into action.

“I was on the phone to [NHLcommissioner] Gary Bettman 10seconds later,” said Mr. Campbell,the National Hockey League’s di-rector of hockey operations andchief disciplinarian, who ruled yes-terday that Mr. Bertuzzi would miss

the remainder of the regular seasonand playoffs as the result of injuringthe Colorado Avalanche rookie inMonday night’s game.

To be reinstated for next season,the Vancouver Canucks forward

has to meet with Mr. Bettman in thesummer. The recovery of Mr.Moore, who is in hospital, will playa big role in whether Mr. Bertuzzi isallowed to play either in the WorldCup of Hockey in late August ornext year’s NHL season.

The incident happened just aftermidnight Eastern time. Mr. Camp-bell, 51, knew there would not bemuch time to sleep in the next fewdays and that his decision on Mr.Bertuzzi’s punishment would beheavily scrutinized.

Judging Bertuzzi: Late nights,bad blood and a spoiled snackBY TIM WHARNSBYHOCKEY REPORTER, TORONTO

� Fine angers Canucks. S1

See BERTUZZI on page A8

Todd Bertuzzi, left, was bannedfor the rest of the NHL season andthe playoffs by Colin Campbell.

FILM FRIDAY Depp’s a treat, the movie isn’t

Sizing up Ben,Owen and Jack

C A N A D A ’ S N A T I O N A L N E W S P A P E R � F O U N D E D 1 8 4 4 � G L O B E A N D M A I L . C O M � F R I D A Y , M A R C H 1 2 , 2 0 0 4

Full index, page A2Weather: Cloudy with a few flurries.High -1. Map and details, S7Births & Deaths, S5

$1 includingtax in metroareas. Pricemay be higheroutside.

7 73552 00101 5

INSIDE: Full coverage, analysis and the story in pictures. A14-15. Marcus Gee on Aznar’s brave strategy. A17. Terrorist fears send stock markets down. B1