Train bomb trial begins in Madrid

MADRID, Feb 15 (Reuters) A Spanish trial began today of 29 people charged with involvement in the Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people three years ago in the deadliest al Qaeda-related attack in Europe.

Hundreds of policemen surrounded the brick courtroom before dawn.

Spanish radio called the start of the trial a ''historic day we've all been waiting for''. Leading newspaper El Pais said it was ''the trial of the biggest Islamist massacre in Europe''.

Twenty Arab men and nine Spaniards face charges that range from belonging to a terrorist group to stealing dynamite from mines in northern Spain to sell to the bombers, often in exchange for drugs.

Spain has raised its terror alert to medium from low as the trial opens weeks before the anniversary of the March 11 bombs, which not only traumatised Spain but also triggered the fall of the government and the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.

''The security operation is spectacular. You wouldn't believe how much surveillance there is that you can't see,'' a court source said.

The first to be questioned will be Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, accused of inciting people to carry out the attack. He is one of four ideologues singled out in the state prosecutor's report.

Ahmed, also known as ''Mohamed the Egyptian'', was convicted of belonging to a terrorist group by an Italian court last year and has been extradited to Spain for the trial.

HARD TO PROVE ''It will be very difficult to prove that he had any responsibility for the attacks,'' said Luca D'Auria, who defended Ahmed in Italy and is part of his legal team in Madrid.

''The evidence against him was collected in Milan and there is no proof that he had any contact with the organisers, with the others accused of the attacks,'' D'Auria told Reuters.

Two of the other alleged masterminds will follow Ahmed on to the stand. The fourth was one of seven suspects who blew themselves up in an apartment block weeks after the bombs.

The investigation into the bombings, which injured about 2,000 people, has been dogged with conspiracy theories.

today right-leaning paper El Mundo continued a campaign aimed at proving the attack had links to Basque separatists ETA.

When the bombs exploded on packed commuter trains three days before general elections, the then-ruling conservative government quickly blamed the attack on ETA.

As more evidence pointed to Islamist militants and a video tape surfaced claiming the attack was revenge for Spain's support for the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, Spaniards turned out in force to vote the conservatives out of power.

The new Socialist government quickly fulfilled an election pledge to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq.

The court hearings are expected to last until July when the three-judge panel will retire to consider the evidence. They are not expected to come out with their verdicts and sentences until October at the earliest.

Reuters SP RN1546