(AFP) There were tears and emotional tributes Monday as Spain and the European Union paid tribute to the 192 victims of March 11, 2004, Madrid train bombings that marked the start of mass Islamist attacks in Europe.
Heads were bowed across the country as the victims’ families, survivors and others observed moments of silence to recall the fateful Thursday 20 years ago when 10 bombs sowed carnage on four commuter trains during the morning rush hour.
“This was a day which shattered our lives in an irreparable way,” Ana Cristina Lopez Royo, whose husband was killed in the bombings, told the crowd of survivors and officials at a ceremony near the royal palace, saying the carnage had affected thousands of lives.
