Former Pm Accused of Madrid Bomb Deceit

The former Spanish prime minister, José Maria Aznar, was today accused by his successor of deceiving the public in the aftermath of the Madrid train bombing.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who defeated the then-governing party candidate in a general election three days after the attack, said Mr Aznar was wrong to blame the Basque separatist group, Eta.

"It was all deceit. It was massive deceit," he told a parliamentary commission into the bombing.

One hundred and ninety-one people died and more than 1,800 were injured when four packed commuter trains were bombed on 11 March this year.

The attack helped catapult Mr Zapatero into office as the Spanish electorate turned against Mr Aznar's centre-right party over its military commitment to the US in Iraq - which an Islamist cell later claimed as its motivation for the attack - and the prime minister's insistence that domestic terrorism was to blame.

Angry crowds in Madrid accused his government of lying about who was responsible and there were street protests in the early hours of the morning the polls opened.

A Spanish judge today began questioning an alleged mastermind of the attack, Rabei Osman Ahmed, a 27-year-old Egyptian, who was extradited from Italy last week after police allegedly overheard him boasting he was behind the Madrid bombings and planning another attack imminently.

Mr Aznar told the commission his conscience was clear when he gave 11 hours of testimony last month.

He denied the attacks were linked to his unpopular decision to send to troops to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein but said the bombers had intended to sway the election.

Soon after coming to power, Mr Zapatero made good a campaign pledge to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq unless the mission won greater UN endorsement. But today he told the commission he did not believe Spain had surrendered to terrorism.

"No Spanish government has knelt before terror and none ever will kneel. Each blow reaffirms our values."

He said the Spanish people had displayed a "gallery of heroism" in tending victims and turning out in their millions to protest.

"This example that we Spaniards provided remains in everyone's memory. Nobody can erase it or months later distort history, offending us by deceit or insinuation," he told the commission.

Mr Zapatero's victory turned Spain from a prominent US ally to one of its least-favoured countries in western Europe, and while Mr Aznar was George Bush's first overseas guest to the White House after his re-election, Mr Zapetero's call to congratulate him on defeating John Kerry went unreturned.

His testimony came amid continued jitters over security in Madrid. About 70,000 football fans were yesterday evacuated from Real Madrid's Bernabéu stadium after a telephone bomb threat in the name of Eta. No device was found.