Spain remembers dead, pursues Morocco link

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 18, 2004

Spain remembers dead, pursues Morocco link

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Spanish police on Tuesday hunted Moroccan Muslim militants suspected of planting the bombs that killed 201 people on Madrid trains as thousands packed Madrid's cathedral for an evening service to honor the dead.

As 3,000 mourners filled La Almudena cathedral, hundreds of others prayed and fingered Catholic rosary beads outside, their somber clothes decked with the black ribbon that has become a symbol of national grief.

Outside Madrid, in the commuter town of Alcala de Henares -- which lost about 40 people and where the bombs were suspected to have been put on three of the four trains hit -- residents held a silent evening march to protest against the violence.

Some carried photos of victims, others candles. Many wept as they walked under the old walls of an historic town that is the birthplace of Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes.

As grief barely subsides, Spanish police hunted five fugitive Moroccans, part of a group of eight main Moroccan suspects, local media said.

Three are already in custody in connection with Spain's worst attack and the first suspected al Qaeda-linked strike in the West since the September 11 attacks on the United States.

But investigators cautioned against drawing any conclusions from evidence gathered so far. The inquiry "is in its infancy. We have a long way to go," one official said.

Spanish police, experienced with Basque separatist attacks, are considered expert at bomb analysis but have sought foreign help for what has become a complex international investigation.

Police from across Europe are to convene in Madrid in coming days to share information, and Spain and Morocco have already sent investigative teams to each other's countries.

U.S. investigators are assisting with fingerprint and background checks on suspects.

Source: agencies

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