Contemporary · Europe · War

2004

Madrid train bombings

March 11, 2004

Ten backpack bombs detonated on commuter trains during the Madrid morning rush hour, killing 193 people and wounding nearly two thousand in Spain's worst terrorist attack. The Aznar government blamed Basque separatists; voters, suspecting an al-Qaeda revenge for Spain's participation in Iraq, threw the conservatives out three days later. Spain withdrew its troops within weeks.