And now a videotape. From AP:
Spain's interior minister said Sunday a videotape has been discovered claiming al-Qaida carried out the Madrid terrorist attacks and threatening more, but that he could not verify the veracity of the claim.Interior Minister Angel Acebes said a man identifying himself as the military spokesman of Al-Qaida in Europe claimed the group was responsible for the attacks Thursday that killed 200 people and wounded 1,500.
"We declare our responsibility for what happened in Madrid exactly 2 1/2 years after the attacks on New York and Washington," said the man, according to a government translation of the tape, which was recorded in Arabic. "It is a response to your collaboration with the criminals Bush and his allies."
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has been a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
A London-based Arabic newspaper had earlier received a claim of responsibility in al-Qaida's name; but the government has been reluctant to blame the Islamic group, saying the Basque separatist group ETA was also a suspect. ETA denied responsibility.
Speaking at a hastily called post-midnight news conference at the interior ministry, Acebes said authorities could not confirm the claim was genuine. He said the videotape was discovered after an Arabic-speaking man called a Madrid TV station and said where it could be found.
A statement from the ministry said the speaker was identified as Abu Dujan al Afghani. Acebes said the man was not known to law enforcement authorities in Spain, and that they were checking the tape's authenticity.
The man threatened further attacks in the video.
"This is a response to the crimes that you caused in the world, and specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there will be more if God wills it," the man said, according to the Spanish government's translation.
Thursday's attacks in Madrid came just days before Sunday's general elections in Spain. At demonstrations Saturday, some protesters said they believed the ruling party was playing down the possible link between the bombings and Spain's role in Iraq, fearing it would hurt the party's chances in the election.
Surprise! Surprise!
Thanks to 'them' OUR day is coming too.
If you see more within the next 10! days then the END is only a VIEW away - I ain't forgot cd.
Not quite sure as to the point of your post Dave. Not sure I want to be either. The jihadis are obsessed enough about prophecy without us getting that way.
Those crazy guys are also obsessed with numerology. Someone want to check my maths on this. What do you get if you add 911 days to the date 9/11/2001.
Er, just checked it myself, it's a leap year this year which makes it 912 days. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the interval was intended to be 911 days, and they made the same mistake.
Did anyone else hear the story about 2 palestinian terrorists who were on their way to deliver a timed device, set to go off at a particular time. They forgot to put their watches forward for spring however and so were still in the van when it blew up.
It may be an urban myth, but it is a good one.
An easy mistake for a Muslim from the Middle East to make. They have a straight lunar calendar. We juggle leap years to make our calendar match a solar year.
jay
If they planned it to come exactly 911 days after 9-11, that means it would have been planned long before the war on Iraq and Spain's participation in it.