cnn
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Here's a look at the commuter train bombings in Spain in March 2004, which killed 193 people and injured more than 1,800. The attacks are the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of Spain.
On March 11, 2004, 10 bombs inside backpacks and other small bags exploded on four commuter trains. One bomb did not explode and was defused. The police carried out controlled explosions of three other bombs.
ETA, a Basque group classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, and Al Qaeda were the original suspects cited by the Spanish government.
Through anonymous phone calls to Basque media, ETA vehemently denied its involvement.
Islamic militants who were based in Spain but inspired by Al Qaeda were later named as the main suspects.
March 11, 2004 – The coordinated attacks that included 10 bombs against four commuter trains at three different stations killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800.
March 13, 2004 – A man speaking Arabic with a Moroccan accent makes a claim of responsibility for Al Qaeda via videotape.
March 13, 2004 – Five people are arrested in connection with the case 60 hours after the attacks. Three of those arrested are Moroccan and two are Indian. Prepaid phone cards and a cell phone from backpacks found at the bombing site link the five to the investigation.
March 14, 2004 – The Spanish Ministry of the Interior publishes the names of five people arrested in connection with the attacks. The men are identified as Jamal Zougam, Mohamed Bekkali, Mohamed Cahoui, Vinay Kohly and Sureh Komar.
March 18, 2004 – Spanish authorities arrest four North Africans in connection with the attacks. The radio report says three were arrested in the Madrid suburb of Alcalá de Henares and the other North African was arrested in northern Spain. They are Abderrahim Zbakh, Farid Oulad Ali and Mohamed El Hadi Chedadi, whose brother, Said Chedadi, was accused last September by a Spanish judge for links to Al Qaeda.
– The fourth suspect is not identified but is described as being of Arab descent.
– The fifth suspect is a Spanish citizen who goes by the name of José Emilio Suárez Trashorras. He is detained in northern Spain.
March 19, 2004 – Spain's National Court charges five suspects in connection with the attacks and keeps them in custody after an all-night court session. The Court also frees Ali Amrous, an Algerian detained in connection with the Madrid terrorist attacks and suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda.
March 22, 2004 – Spanish state radio reports four new arrests in the Madrid attacks.
March 24, 2004 – A Spanish judge charges two more suspects, Naima Oulad and Rafa Zouhier, with the train bombings, bringing the total number of people charged in the attacks to 11.
March 25, 2004 – A Spanish judge accuses a Moroccan, Faisal Alluch, of collaborating with a terrorist group in connection with the train bombings, raising the number to 12 suspects charged in the case.
March 30, 2004 – Spanish Interior Minister Ángel Acebes names a Moroccan terrorist group, the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (GICM), as the main focus of the investigation.
March 30, 2004 – The Moroccan Fouad El Morabit, who had been released without charge, is arrested again. Judicial sources also confirm the latest arrest in the case, a man identified as Otman el Gnaout.
March 30, 2004 – Basel Ghayoun, a Syrian, is accused of the attacks. Hamid Ahmidan of Morocco is charged with collaborating with a terrorist group and one count of drug possession. Three other men are released.
March 31, 2004 – A Spanish National Court judge issues international arrest warrants for six more suspects as the investigation focuses on the GICM. The Interior Ministry says five of the wanted men are Moroccan. They include two brothers and a man related to other Moroccans detained previously. The sixth wanted man is Tunisian.
March 31, 2004 – Prosecutions begin for two men, Antonio Toro Castro of Spain and Mustafa Ahmidam of Morocco.
April 2, 2004 – A bomb found under the high-speed train tracks between Madrid and Seville appears to be made from the same explosives used in the March 11 attacks.
April 2, 2004 – A Spanish judge releases without charge two Syrian men who had been detained in connection with the March 11 train bombings in Madrid. He also frees a Moroccan, but orders him to report to the police daily until further notice.
April 3, 2004 – Seven suspected terrorists commit suicide and kill a police officer when they cause an explosion in a Madrid suburb as police try to enter a building. The suspects are presumed to be involved in the train bombings. Fingerprints at the scene later result in more arrests, including Saswan Sabagh.
April 3, 2004 – Spanish authorities arrest two more people, but the identities of the two are not revealed.
April 7, 2004 – A National Court judge accuses two other Moroccan suspects, Abdelilah El Fuad and Rachid Adli, of the March 11 train bombings in Madrid.
April 12, 2004 – Spanish police arrest three more suspects. One of the three was identified as Morabit, who has already been arrested three times. The other two are not identified.
May 6, 2004 – Brandon Mayfield, an American lawyer, is arrested by the FBI in connection with the attacks. His fingerprints were found on a bag containing detonators of the type used in the attacks, very close to the site of the explosion. The Spanish Interior Ministry spokesman said the plastic bag was found inside a stolen van abandoned near the Alcalá train station, where the three bombed trains departed. American sources call him a material witness, do not formally accuse him of any crime so far and claim that he is a follower of Islam.
November 2004 – Spanish lawmakers launch investigation into train bombings.
January 2005 – Spain's Interior Minister says Spanish officials have made 66 arrests in the train bombing investigation.
April 11, 2006 – Twenty-nine people are charged before a Spanish court in connection with the attacks. Five men are in charge of planning and executing the plot, and a sixth is designated as a “necessary collaborator.” The rest are in secondary roles.
February 15, 2007 – Start date of the trial of 29 defendants. Seven defendants are considered the main suspects and each of them could face sentences of about 38,000 years in prison for mass murder, if convicted.
March 11, 2007 – On the occasion of the third anniversary of the bombing, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía dedicate a monument to the victims at Atocha station. It is a glass cylinder that opens into a meditation chamber.
June 4, 2007 – One of the 29 defendants in the Madrid train bombing trial, Brahim Moussaten, has been acquitted of all charges and is now a free man, a court spokeswoman told CNN.
October 31, 2007 – The verdicts of the remaining 28 defendants are read. Three men are found guilty of the most serious charges and sentenced to thousands of years in prison. However, according to Spanish law, they will only serve 40 years. Eighteen defendants are found guilty of lesser charges. Seven defendants are acquitted, including alleged mastermind Rabei Osman.
July 17, 2008 – The convictions of four defendants, Basel Ghalyoun, Mouhannad Almallah Dabas, Abdelilah el-Fadual al-Akil and Raúl González, were annulled. Osman's acquittal is also confirmed.
December 18, 2008 – A Moroccan criminal court finds Abdelilah Ahriz guilty of belonging to a terrorist group involved in the train attacks and sentences him to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors originally requested that Ahriz be sentenced to life in prison, saying DNA samples demonstrated his involvement in preparing the train bombings.
May 12, 2009 – Ten of the 14 suspected Islamic militants accused of helping the three suspects are acquitted by Spain's anti-terrorism court. The ruling gives the remaining four sentences of between two and nine years for falsification of documents or membership in a terrorist group.
January 13, 2010 – A Spanish court convicts five men accused of Islamic terrorist activities, including helping fugitives from the 2004 Madrid train bombings and planning other attacks. Their sentences, for charges of collaboration or membership in an Islamic terrorist group, range between five and nine years in prison.
February 2011 – Spain's Supreme Court overturns the lower court's conviction of five men convicted in January 2010 of Islamic terrorist activities that included helping fugitives from the Madrid train bombings and planning other attacks.
