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'We won't forget you': Madrid mourns victims of train bombs

Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones - [email protected]
'We won't forget you': Madrid mourns victims of train bombs
Madrid mayor Manuela Carmena (l), Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy (centre) and President of the Community of Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes (r). Photo: Mariano Rajoy/Twitter

Victims associations and officials attended memorials for the 191 people killed in the Madrid train bombings, the worst terror attack in modern European history.

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Ceremonies were held in Madrid on Friday to remember the victims of the city’s 2004 train bombings. 

Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy attended a ceremony in Madrid's Puerta del Sol on Friday morning to remember the 191 people who were killed in a coordinated attack on Madrid's commuter trains on the morning of March 11th 2004. 

He was joined by Madrid mayor Manuela Carmena and President of the Community of Madrid Cristina Cifuentes. 

 

"We won't forget you," tweeted acting Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy. 

A further 1,800 people were injured in the devastating attacks in which four trains were targeted by an al-Qaeda-inspired cell.

Rajoy stressed that the fight against terrorism remains "a priority" for Spain and "all the countries that have been hit, and harshly, over recent years". 

"Spain will continue to defend, as it has always done, the lives, rights and freedom of its citizens, both within Spain and abroad," added Rajoy. 

After meeting under the plaque to honour the victims at Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol at 9am, the ceremony moved to Atocha train station, scene of three of the bombings on the morning on March 11th 2004. 

 

Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias at the memorial ceremony at Atocha. 

In a show of solidarity across political stripes, the leaders of Spain's political parties attended the memorial ceremony. 

Today marks the first time all victims associations have attended the official ceremony to honour those killed in the terror attack. 

 

 

On Thursday evening, Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia attended a memorial concert for the victims of terror in Spain. 

The series of shrapnel-filled bombs detonated around 7.40am on packed trains headed to Madrid's main Atocha station, killing 191 people from 17 countries and wounding about 2,000.
 
Spanish courts eventually sentenced 18 people for the bomb attacks. Two of the convicts received jail terms of nearly 43,000 years each.
 
The seven chief suspects committed suicide on April 3rd, 2004, by blowing themselves up in an apartment near Madrid, also killing a policeman.
 
 
March 11th is the European Day of Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism. The EU Council tweeted: "Today we remember those who lost their lives in terrorist attacks in Europe & the world." 
 

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