MADRID - A Spanish judge yesterday indicted seven people accused of helping several of the suspected Madrid train bombers flee after the 2004 terror attacks.
National Court Judge Eloy Velasco charged six of the seven with belonging to an unidentified terrorist group. One was accused of collaboration.
Velasco said the seven provided money, cover, and information to help six men evade justice after allegedly participating in the March 11, 2004, bombings. The morning rush hour attacks on commuter trains headed for the capital’s main southern station killed 191 people and wounded about 1,800.
Four of the seven indicted are free, one is in custody, and the whereabouts of two others are unknown. No trial date was set.
The court named the suspects as Zohair Khadiri, Taha Seghrouchni, Hammad Lahsini, Abdelkrim Lebchina, and Abdelaziz El Merabit, all from Morocco; Djilali Boussiri from Algeria, and Nassreddine Ben Laidne Amri of Tunisia.
Responsibility for the attacks, perpetrated with 10 bombs hidden in backpacks, was claimed by Muslim militants who said they were avenging the presence of Spanish peacekeepers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2007, 28 people, mainly from North Africa, went on trial, and 21 were convicted of taking part in the terror bombings.
The judge said the seven knew of six men who participated in the bombings but did nothing to turn them in to the police.
