SPAIN
Youth sentenced for Madrid bombings
A 16-year-old Spaniard was sentenced to six years in a juvenile detention center Nov. 16 after he pleaded guilty to charges he helped steal and transport dynamite used in the March 11 Madrid train bombings.
It was the first trial arising from the attacks that killed 191 people and wounded 1,900, the most devastating attack in modern Spanish history.
Most of the 30 train bombing suspects under arrest or court supervision are North Africans described by High Court Judge Juan del Olmo as waging an Islamic holy war against the West.
In videotaped messages, the bombers claimed to represent al-Qaeda in Europe and said they were attacking Spain for sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The juvenile, however, is a Spaniard from the northern region of Asturias who came into the plot through links to an older Spanish man who dealt in drugs and black market explosives, prosecutors said.
The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 27, 2004 (C) All rights reserved
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