The March 2004 Madrid train bombings were not suicide bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004), and most of the key bombers remain in Spain, holed up in an apartment in the town of Leganes, near Madrid. The police surrounded them in the early afternoon and a several hour shootout began (see 2:00-9:00 p.m., April 3, 2004). GEO, an elite police unit, arrives around 8:00 p.m. The head of GEO will later testify that he decides to assault the apartment immediately because of reports they have explosives. The entire area has already been evacuated. There reportedly is some shouting back and forth, but no negotiations. One of the bombers reportedly shouts, “Enter, you suckers!” At 9:30, the GEO unit knocks down the door to the apartment with explosives and throws tear gas into the room. But the bombers are reportedly huddled together and blow themselves up. One GEO agent is also killed in the explosion. The bombers killed are: Allekema Lamari, Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet, Abdennabi Kounjaa, Arish Rifaat, Jamal Ahmidan (alias “El Chino”), and the brothers Mohammed Oulad Akcha and Rachid Oulad Akcha. Others are believed to have escaped during the shootout. [New Yorker, 7/26/2004; Irujo, 2005, pp. 360-361; El Mundo (Madrid), 3/22/2007] Lamari, Fakhet, and Ahmidan are thought to have been the top leaders of the plot. [BBC, 3/10/2005] It will later emerge that close associates of both Fakhet and Lamari were government informants (see Shortly Before March 11, 2004), and that Spanish intelligence specifically warned in November 2003 that the two of them were planning an attack in Spain on a significant target (see November 6, 2003). Furthermore, Fakhet himself may have been a government informant (see Shortly After October 2003).
April 4, 2004: Plans for Further Attacks Found in Raided Apartment of Madrid Bombers
On April 3, 2004, seven of the key Madrid train bombers reportedly blow themselves up in an apartment in the town of Leganes near Madrid (see 9:05 p.m., April 3, 2004), and investigators soon find interesting evidence in the wreckage. A video is found showing three of the bombers wearing masks, holding guns, and making threats. One of them reads a statement in the name of the “Al Mufti Brigades” and “Ansar al-Qaeda” giving Spain one week “to leave Muslim lands.” Failing this, they say, “we will continue our jihad until martyrdom.” Apparently this is in response to the new Socialist government in Spain announcing that it would double its number of troops in Afghanistan while withdrawing troops from Iraq. Evidence will also be found that the group was planning to bomb some local targets, possibly including a Jewish community center. Investigators believe the video was meant to be shown after the group had bombed again. It is unclear exactly who is in the video or when it was made, but the speaker is believed to be Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet. [Guardian, 4/9/2004; New York Times, 4/14/2004] Investigators also find various jihadist manuals, including some that give advice on how to resist interrogations. [El Pais (Spain), 2/18/2007]
