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Thousands of Spaniards commemorated the victims of the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history twenty years ago during numerous events on Monday.

Within a few minutes on the morning of March 11, 2004, a Thursday, ten bombs exploded on four crowded commuter trains in Madrid. According to official information, a total of 193 people have been killed as a result of the series of Islamist attacks. Nearly 2,000 people were injured.

“This date unites us in a memory that is both personal and public and does not fade with time.”said King Felipe VI. during a ceremony to mark the European Day for Victims of Terrorism, which commemorates the Madrid train attacks and all other terrorist attacks since 2005. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez emphasized that commemoration should also be an incentive for the present and the future. “So that something like this never happens again,” he said in a speech.

EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, also took part in the commemoration. Terror attacks like those in Madrid are an attack “on all of us,” the Swede said. Survivors of other terrorist attacks in Europe reported on their martyrdom and the great solidarity they experienced.

At the central commemoration meeting of the city of Madrid at the Puerta del Sol, Vera de Benito, whose father was killed in the series of attacks, thanked the Spaniards for their enormous solidarity. «My father and I were a great duo. I wish he could be here today»said De Benito, who was still a little girl at the time. “They can take away our loved ones, but never our memories,” she confirmed.

At the time, the Spanish security forces underestimated the danger of Islamist terror because the focus was on the fight against the Basque terrorist organization ETA. However, investigators quickly tracked down the bombers.

Police found the suspected terrorists in the suburb of Leganés. The seven men blew themselves up when their apartment was surrounded by security forces. A police officer was also killed.

The attacks also caused a rift in Spanish society at the time. The left accused then-conservative Prime Minister José María Aznar of making Spain a target of Islamic terror because he led the country into the US war in Iraq. The right accused the socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of winning the parliamentary elections of March 14, 2004 only thanks to the bombings. (rbu/sda/dpa)