Madrid train bombing verdicts set for October 31

MADRID, Oct 10 (Reuters) A Spanish court will announce verdicts and sentences on October 31 for the men charged over train bombings in Madrid in 2004, the deadliest attack linked to al Qaeda in Europe, it said today.

The 28 men, mainly Arabs living in Spain but also several Spaniards, are accused of planning, carrying out or assisting in the bombing of four commuter trains arriving in the city centre from working class suburbs on the morning of March 11, 2004.

All deny any involvement.

Prosecutors say the attack, which killed 191 people, was carried out by a group linked to al Qaeda, with help from local petty criminals who supplied dynamite stolen from mines in northern Spain.

They have asked for sentences amounting to tens of thousands of years -- although the maximum any individual can serve in Spain is 40 years. The high-security trial ended in July after more than four months of evidence.

REUTERS PD KN1715