Al Qaeda Claim Overshadows Vote

Spaniards voted Sunday in general elections thrown wide open by a possible al Qaeda claim that it staged deadly rail bombings last week to punish the government for supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Protesters shouted "murderer" at the ruling party candidate as he cast his ballot.

Some voters also blamed the government for Spain's worst terror attack, saying President Jose Maria Aznar invited the attention of Osama bin Laden's terror group by allying Spain with Washington in the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Protestors accused the government of withholding information to protect itself from political fall-out if the bombs were retaliation for its unpopular support of Washington in the war in Iraq, reports CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey.

The government had initially blamed the Thursday bombings, which killed at least 200 people and wounded about 1,200, on the Basque separatist group ETA.

Evidence of al Qaeda involvement grew after the government announced finding a videotape in a trash can Saturday on which a man says the Islamic terror group was punishing Spain for its support of the Iraq war. An Arabic-speaking man called a Madrid TV station to say the tape was there, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said.

More than 12 hours of analysis by mid-Sunday had yet to determine whether the videotape came from al Qaeda, said Acebes.

"Up to now we have not been able to identify the person in whose name responsibility for the attack was purportedly claimed," he told a news conference. "Our reservations about the credibility remain."

Nor had intelligence services in Spain, France, Britain and Portugal identified Abu Dujan al Afghani, described in the tape as "the military spokesman for al Qaeda in Europe," said Acebes.

Many thought the ruling party was playing politics with the tape. "I didn't intend to vote, but changed my mind," said Javi Martin, 30, who works for a TV station in Madrid. "And not because of the attacks, but because of the responsibility of the Popular Party. They gave out information drop by drop. It would have benefited them if it were ETA."

Earlier in the day, three Moroccans and two Indians were arrested over the bombings, which killed 200 people and wounded 1,200.

Moroccan security experts arrived in Spain on Sunday to help in the investigation. The experts were members of a team that has already spent nearly a year working with Spanish officials in investigations into May 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco. Those attacks killed 33 bystanders, including Spanish citizens.

Spain's El Pais newspaper, citing the interior ministry, reported that the Moroccans are linked to Abu Dahdah, the jailed alleged leader of al Qaeda in Spain. Authorities in Morocco said Sunday they could not confirm that.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a broadcast interview Sunday, "I think what this illustrates is that there is a war on terror that must be fought. Nobody's immune. Saudi Arabia's not immune. Turkey's not immune. Indonesia's not immune. Spain is not immune, Germany, France."

"And so, rather than finding fault with what Spain has done by being aggressive in the war on terror, this should redouble everyone's efforts to go after terrorist organizations of any kind, whether it's ETA, whether it is al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization. Terror has to be brought to an end," Powell said.

Before the attacks, polls gave ruling the Popular Party and its candidate, Mariano Rajoy, a 3-5 percentage point lead over the Socialists and their leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in the race for the 350-seat Congress of Deputies. President Aznar is not seeking a third term; in the outgoing legislature, his party had 183 seats.

In the videotape, the male speaker says: "We declare our responsibility for what happened in Madrid," according to a government translation of the statement delivered in Arabic. "It is a response to your collaboration with the criminals Bush and his allies."

The speaker notes that the bombings, which also wounded 1,200 people, came exactly 2½ years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Investigators were analyzing the tape to verify its authenticity.

Police said they would invoke Spain's anti-terrorism legislation and request five days, two more than usual, to interrogate the three Moroccans and two Indians arrested Saturday.

Acebes said the five were arrested in connection with a cell phone and prepaid phone card in an explosives-filled gym bag found on one of the four trains bombed Thursday.

The Socialists pointed to the government's shifting version of events, which first focused blame ETA, but then included Islamic suspects after a van was found in the Madrid suburb where three of the four bombed trains originated. Inside were verses from the Quran, and detonators.

A Basque daily Sunday published a statement by ETA in which the group denied for a second time its involvement in the attacks.

Twenty people in the Basque city of Bilbao told the Associated Press early Sunday that the bombings would not influence their vote - though all refused to say which party they planned to vote for.

"I had already decided," said Maria Sonjuaisti, 42, "The attacks confirmed what I already had in mind."

In Barcelona, however, voter Ernesto Sanchez-Gey, 48, said: "I wasn't planning to vote and I'm here today because the Popular Party is responsible for murders here and in Iraq.... Also, they accused ETA of the attack when they knew all along that it wasn't."

The political campaign was bitter between Rajoy, 48, a veteran Cabinet minister under Aznar, and Zapatero, 43, a lawyer, member of parliament, and his party's general-secretary.

Asked how he thought the terrorist attack might sway voters, Rajoy said in an interview published Saturday, "I don't know. I hope not at all."

Thousands of people rallied overnight against the Popular Party, saying it should be thrown out of power for drawing al Qaeda's wrath.

"No more cover-ups," read a banner carried by the protesters, who were being watched by riot police.

Aznar did not seek re-election, complying with a pledge he made years ago to not seek a third, four-year term.