Spain was "weakest link" for 2004 bombs, court told

MADRID, Mar 5 (Reuters) Islamist radicals decided to blow up commuter trains in Madrid because Spain was the easiest target of the three main countries involved in the invasion of Iraq, a trial of suspects for the 2004 bombings heard today.

Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Britain's Tony Blair met US President George W Bush in the Azores in March 2003 to discuss ways to win UN support for a resolution to authorise the war in Iraq.

''Spain was chosen as the weakest link in the Azores group,'' a protected witness, identified only as a Spanish police chief, told a Madrid court trying 29 people for their involvement in the bombings, the deadliest al Qaeda-inspired attack in Europe.

The witness was not named for security reasons and gave his testimony from behind a curtain.

Bombs ripped through four trains early in the morning of March 11, 2004, killing 191 people.

Two days later, a video was found which claimed responsibility for the bombs in the name of al Qaeda and said the attack was revenge for Spain sending troops to Afghanistan and supporting the US-led war in Iraq.

The following day, Spaniards voted Aznar's pro-US Popular Party out of office and newly-elected Socialists fulfilled a pledge to pull troops out of Iraq.

The police chief said the bombing plans picked up pace in October 2003, seven months after the invasion of Iraq, and that police had told their superiors the risk of an Islamist attack was ''quite critical''.

''We were aware that the possibility of attacks against Spanish interests had grown considerably,'' he said.

Another seven suspects blew themselves up almost a month after the attacks and four more are on the run, one of whom police suspect died in a suicide attack in Iraq.

The trial is expected to last until July.

REUTERS SP KP2134