Spanish Police Find Bomb on Rail Line

Spanish police today found a bomb on a high-speed rail line between Madrid and Seville, according to Spain's interior minister, Angel Acebes.

Bomb-disposal experts alerted by a railway employee found 10-12kg (22-24lb) of dynamite under a line about 40 miles south of Madrid on the rail line running to Seville, Mr Acebes said.

The explosives were connected to a detonator with a 130-metre cable, the minister told a news conference. He said it was not immediately known who placed the bomb.

The discovery follows the train bombings in Madrid last month that killed 191 people and injured some 1,800.

Ten bombs ripped through four trains in central Madrid, causing Spain's worst terrorist attack and the worst atrocity in Europe since the Lockerbie bombing in 1984 that killed 270 people.

The Madrid bombings, on March 11, are suspected to have been carried out by a Morocco-based Islamist terror cell with al-Qaida links. There have been some 20 arrests.

Fears remain high of further attacks - yesterday police in northern Spain defused three letter bombs addressed to journalists in Madrid.

There has also been terror scares on the railways in France recently. Last month a previously unknown group calling itself AZF, which was not thought to have links to Islamist terror groups, tried to blackmail the French government for money by leaving explosive devices on railways, although it has since withdrawn its threat.

Britain is also on high alert for a terror attack on the railways and underground in London. After the Madrid bombing, a new awareness poster campaign was launched aimed at motivating passengers to report seeing unattended bags.