Bombs in Madrid Kill 173

Posted on March 11, 2004

This just in: 173 killed in Madrid rail bombings.

The attacks were apparently carried out by the Basque separatist group, ETA (though they haven’t claimed responsibility yet). It’s a fairly astounding act of terrorism: three coordinated bombings of commuter trains, going off at the peak of rush hour. CNN reports at least 10 bombs detonated in the three locations, with authorities managing to detect and safely detonated in a contained fashion an unspecified number of additional bombs. Besides the 173 killed, at least 600 are reported wounded.

My employer, Oceana, has an office and many staff in Madrid, so as you can imagine this has come as a bit of a shock to all of us. Thankfully all our people and their families are OK. But it certainly takes what may seem to you to be a distant story and brings it home.