Madrid Bombings Mastermind, Three Suspects Killed

"The core of the group that carried out the attacks is either arrested or dead in yesterday’s collective suicide, including the head of the operative commando (unit)," Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes told a news conference.

He said the bodies of "four suicide terrorists have been found. Three have already been identified, including Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, known as the ‘Tunisian’ and the suspected head of the group who carried out the attacks," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

A total of 191 people were killed in the March 11 bombings on four commuter trains in Madrid, the worst terror attack on Spanish soil and the deadliest in Europe since the 1988 airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Acebes said a police officer was killed and eleven others were wounded, some critically, in the blast in a residential area in Leganes, a suburb south of Madrid and the site of two of the four train explosions.

"The special police agents prepared to storm the building and when they started to execute the plan, the terrorists set off a powerful explosion, blowing themselves up," Acebes said.

He recalled that the suspects have opened fire at the security forces as they approached the building after spotting them from a window.

Police then evacuated residents in the building and the surrounding area and cordoned it off, said the Minister.

He added that while a security team re-entered the building, the suspects set off a huge explosion in the apartment to avoid arrest.

Acebes said the massive security stake-out had averted more attacks as police found about 200 detonators and 10 kilograms of explosives during the raid.

"They were going to keep on attacking because some of the explosives were prepared and connected to detonators."

At least one of the four dead was on a list of suspects wanted by investigators for ties to the March 11 attacks.

The neighborhood remained cordoned-off Sunday as city employees sifted through the rubble and thousands of onlookers flocked to see the gutted building.

The partly-destroyed apartment block was expected to be demolished in the coming day.

Around 40 people whose homes were wrecked or damaged had been resettled in hotel accommodation.

Spanish authorities announced Friday, April 2, the discovery of a new bomb planted on a high-speed railway line linking Madrid and Seville similar to those used in the Madrid bombings.

Spain remains on a state of alert since the Madrid bombings, with the army, police and national railway company Renfe operating a permanent surveillance system across the country.

Judicial officials Friday freed four suspects arrested earlier in connection with the March 11 attacks, leaving a total of 15 suspects now facing charges while five others are still under questioning.

The Madrid bombings, which were strongly condemned by Muslims across the globe, triggered a surprise defeat of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar’s conservative Popular Party (PP) in general elections.