Isabel Díaz Ayuso and José Luis Martínez Almeida pay tribute to the victims. EUROPA PRESS

Madrid remembers the 11-M victims of terrorism, 18 years after the railway bombings in the city

On 11 March 2004 Spain witnessed the largest terrorist massacre in the history of Europe, with 192 deaths and almost 2,000 people injured after four commuter trains were attacked

MELCHOR SAIZ-PARDO

Madrid

Friday, 11 March 2022, 12:52 | Updated 13:38h.

Madrid has this Friday morning remembered the victims of the terrorist attacks of 11 March 2004 which resulted in the deaths of 192 people and left almost 2,000 injured. It was the largest terrorist massacre in the history of Europe after ten of the thirteen bombs planted by the terrorists exploded early in the morning and almost simultaneously in four commuter trains that were circulating at that time, packed with passengers, through the Atocha, Santa Eugenia stations, El Pozo, and next to Calle Téllez, near Atocha.

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The central act of remembrance this Friday took place at 9am in Puerta del Sol with the institutional tribute that takes place every year on the façade of the Real Casa de Correos, headquarters of the Madrid region. There, the region's president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor of the city, José Luis Martínez Almeida, placed a laurel wreath in front of the commemorative plaque installed to the right of the main door of the building.

The event was attended by representatives of the associations of victims of the massacre, including the president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism, Maite Araluce; the president of the Association to Help the Victims of 11-M, Dori Majali; the president of the Victims of Terrorism Foundation, Tomás Caballero; and the president of the 11M Association Affected by Terrorism, Eulogio Paz.

The bells of the churches in the area rang for five minutes in memory of the victims, before at 10.30am the tributes moved to the Atocha train station, where CCOO and UGT unions of Madrid, the 11M Association Affected by Terrorism and the Union of Actors and Actresses have gathered to remember the victims.

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