MADRID — Spanish police are investigating a witness account that a Moroccan suspect with alleged links to Al Qaeda was aboard one of the trains bombed here last week, a high-ranking law enforcement official said Monday.
Although investigators remain cautious of the witness' account because the identification was based on a photograph, the reported sighting adds to suspicions that Jamal Zougam, one of three Moroccan suspects under arrest, played a key role in the bombings, the official said. Zougam's suspected ties to Al Qaeda first surfaced here in 2001, but Spain's interior minister revealed Monday that Zougam and the other Moroccans were not under surveillance before last week's bombings.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday March 18, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 36 words Type of Material: Correction
Train bombing -- A photo caption Tuesday in Section A incorrectly described a scene at a railway station as occurring during "three minutes of silence in Madrid." The photo was taken at Waterloo Station in London.
In the wake of the attacks that upended Sunday's national elections here and ousted the ruling party that strongly supported the war in Iraq, Europe's security forces are worried about repercussions beyond the toll of 200 dead and 1,500 wounded.
If terrorist groups conclude that the Madrid bombers succeeded in bringing down a government, investigators said, the menace of new attacks will grow.
"It's diabolical because it gives the movements connected to Al Qaeda the conviction that they have the capacity to change a government," said a European police commander with long experience investigating Islamic networks.
"That they can get rid of a government perceived as tough on terrorism. They will see this as a total political success."
Troubled by this extraordinary convergence of violence and politics in Madrid, European security forces have gone on heightened alert. The bombings could encourage emulators, they said. The U.S. allies with troops in Iraq -- especially Britain, Spain and Italy -- are prime targets of Islamic extremist networks, investigators said.
"There's lots of concern," a senior Italian investigator said. Referring to new intelligence about plots in the making, he added: "It's especially difficult because we have to examine the information coming in and select what we think is credible."
Spanish investigators have not yet confirmed that extremists connected to Al Qaeda were behind the bombings. Interior Minister Angel Acebes and other officials cautioned Monday that the possible involvement of Basque terrorists has not been ruled out.
Opponents of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar say his handling of the crisis caused the electoral collapse of his Popular Party, which led handily in opinion surveys before the bombs went off on commuter trains Thursday.
