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= Madrid,Spain - Target de Cercanías =



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On 11 March 2004, in Madrid, ** 191 people were killed ** and over ** 1800 injured ** by a series of ten terrorist bombs in four commuter trains. ===== 13 bombs were placed, although only 10 detonated. They were controlled by combined cell phones and timers, and they were industrially made explosive called Goma-2 ECO (which is //usually// used for mining) enhanced with metal fragments to maximize casualties.

Massacre Mastermind
There was an uncertainty of who was responsible for the bombing at first. The Bombings were initially presumed to be the work of Basque Separatists group, **Euskadi Ta Askatasun(ETA)** because the bombings were 3 days before the general election in Spain. But the Cercan ías  bombing was not ETA's style. This leads to question if the Islamic Radical group, Al-Qaeda was responsible for it, as their bombing style prefers to inflict massive civilian casualties using public transport in a "spectacular" fashion and the preferred to do their attacks on significant dates, this of which was coincidentally 911 days after the 9/11 attack.

Knowing
It was revealed that intelligence agencies had known for two months that a terrorist attack was being planned against a country entering into an election period. However, they mistakenly believed that country to be Iraq. The supporting documents, written in Arabic, belonged to a senior al-Qaeda leader, Yusuf al-Airi, and was obtained by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment(FFI) over the Internet.

Why?
According to a FFI Muslim fundamentalism expert, the documents described in detail the tactics and strategies that were to be employed. The tactic was to break the U.S led occupation of Iraq by carrying out successive attacks on co-operating member states, starting with the one which would most easily lose its resolve to keep its troops stationed in Iraq, and then following on with the rest. The Iraq war was very unpopular in Spain (around 90% refused to participate in this conflict), and so this would make a likely first target. After this incident, Spain **did** pull out it's 1,300 troops from Iraq putting a lot of pressure on the U.S.

Additional Information
Out of the 28 defendants in trial, __ **21** __ of them were found guilty. Of the 29 defendants, 2 were sentenced to __ **40,000 years** __ in jail.....but Spanish laws limit a maximum of 40 years. Not all the bombs exploded because the 13th one was __** missing two wires **__.

=Social Impact=

The social impact following the Madrid bombings which occurred on the 11th of March 2004 can be summarised under 2 major situations. These were:

 1. ** Nationwide Anti-Terrorism Demonstrations ** During the Nationwide Anti-Terrorism Demonstrations, the streets of Spain were filled with a massive public display of condemnation of the attacks. Roughly two million people marched through Madrid to join President Azar and other important politicians who marched to Atocha station. Millions more around the country organized similar demonstrations. At this point in time, it is assumed that the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) is responsible for the bombings.

 2. ** Arrests & ****// 'Dia de Reflexion' //**** Protests ** On March 13, it is revealed that three Moroccans and two Indians have been arrested in connection with the bombings of the previous Thursday, thus confirming Islamic intervention and making the possibility of ETA less likely. The citizens of Madrid take to the streets once more. However, the general atmosphere of the public has changed from a sense of solidarity and a feeling of community to an intense feeling of anger. This was because the public felt that they had been lied to by the government at a time when the Spanish people felt most vulnerable. The number of protesters however declined as March the 13th was a day before the Spanish election(Dia de Reflexion) and political protestations were illegal, hence putting off some people from coming out onto the street. However, whatever protesters there were, they proceeded to the municipal government building where they bashed up numerous bottles and garbage can lids.

**Credits:** //Conservapedia// //Wikipedia// //CBSnews// //Citizendium//

//Ryan & Aaron.//



*The debris left behind from the terrorist attack

The terrorist group suspected to be behind the attack was the Islamic group, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). They used a total of 3 bombs for this attack. First, a backpack-mounted by a suicide bomber and the other 2 are Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), one on a car and one by the roadside. All three were targeted at largely populated area, such as popular nightclubs. More than 100 were wounded in the Saturday night attacks on the Indonesian tourist island, Bali, in addition to more than 180 deceased. Identification of the casualties was made difficult due to the serious burns. Many tourists from Australia, America, France, Britain and Germany made up most of the victims.
 * __ Introduction to Bali Bombing incident in 2002 __**

The most important concern effect on Bali is the drop in the number of tourist visiting the island. After the bombing incident, tourists avoided Bali for vacations, in fear of another attack by the terrorist. This loss affected Indonesia’s economy growth as 40% of their revenue comes from tourism in Bali. The incident also had an adverse effect, as tourists were also deserting tourist sites in other parts of Indonesia after the bombing incident. It also added up to the lingering problems of the lack of foreign investments in Indonesia. *the memorial stone tablet erected after the bombing incident.
 * __ Economic Impact due to the bombing incident __**

Recovery of the economy from the incident was a long and tedious process. Bali’s reputation as a peaceful enclave, sheltering from the violence that is affecting other parts of the country, has been tarnished. It took several years for the tourists to re-establish the confidence in returning to Bali. There was some return of confidence in Indonesia’s economy, with the government projecting a growth rate of 3.5% for those subsequent years. The Bali bombings will reinforce negative sentiment about the country amongst prospective investors. Investors have been reluctant to commit to Indonesia because of perceived political instability and poor economic prospects, as well as problems with corruption in the bureaucracy and the legal and judicial system that make doing business costly and risky. The Bali events will add to perceptions about violence and threats to the personal safety of foreigners.

Jikang & Jiaqing (4A)

Evidence of thorough research. Appropriate pictures. However language could be simplified. 9/10