Madrid blasts, Special to site

-While the Spanish government is blaming ETA for the attacks on the trains on Madrid, and ETA may well be to blame for these attacks, al Qaeda can also not be ruled out as a suspect.
-In October 2003 bin Laden released an audiotape calling for attacks on countries supplying coalition forces for the Iraq war including Britain, Spain, Australia, Holland, Japan and Italy. Since that statement there have been attacks on an Italian police barracks in southern Iraq killing seventen, and attacks on a British consulate and the British HSBC bank in Istanbul by al Qaeda affiliated groups.

-Simultaneous attacks are a hallmark of al Qaeda, as are attacks that kill large numbers of people.

-Aznar has been one of the most prominent exponents of the Iraq war.

-The 9/11 plotters, such as Mohammed Atta, travelled frequently to Spain.

-Jihadists in Iraq killed a half dozen Spanish intelligence officials in an attack on a convoy they were travelling in November 2003.

-Judge Garzon, one of Spain's most prominent judges has taken a very proactive stance against al Qaeda. Indeed the only jurisdiction that bin Laden has been indicted in for his role in the 9/11 attacks is Spain.

-One of al Qaeda's goals has been to reclaim Andalusia back into the caliphate.