Court clears Madrid train bomb suspects

A Spanish court has cleared four men of crimes related to the Madrid train bombings in March 2004.

In an appeal against a ruling last year, three men were acquitted of being members of the radical Islamist cell which carried out the bombings that killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800.

A fourth man was cleared of trafficking explosives.

The court also upheld the acquittal of "Mohamed the Egyptian", Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, who was accused of being one of the masterminds behind the bombings.

In October last year, a Spanish court found 21 people guilty of involvement in the attack but cleared three men of masterminding it and acquitted seven others.

Many victims were shocked by the sentences, which in many cases were much lower than the state attorney had requested, and angry at the acquittals.

Three men, two Moroccans and a Spaniard who provided the bombers with explosives, were handed down sentences which may keep them in prison for 40 years, the maximum in Spanish law.

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