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Fernando Reinares tells the story of 3/11¿the March 11, 2004, bombings of commuter trains in Madrid, which killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800. His full analysis links the Madrid bombings to al-Qaedäs senior leadership and unveils connections between 3/11 and 9/11.
List of contents
List of Maps and Figures
Acknowledgments
Foreword, by Bruce Riedel
List of Abbreviations
Prologue
Part I. The 3/11 Terrorist Network: Origins, Components, and Formation
1. Osama bin Laden's Man in Spain and His Associates
2. From Abu Dahdah's Cell to the 3/11 Network
3. "He swore that the Spanish would pay dearly for his detention": Allekema Lamari and Algerians in the 3/11 Network
4. The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group and Its Involvement in the 3/11 Network
5. "They moved together while I moved on my own": Mohamed al-Masri in Egypt, Spain, and Italy
6. Common Delinquents Turned into Jihadists: The Final Component of the 3/11 Network
7. How the 3/11 Terrorist Network Formed
Part II. The Al-Qaeda Connection: Revenge, Opportunity, and Strategy
8. "Transforming the tranquillity of the crusaders into a hell": Amer Azizi and the Al-Qaeda Link to 3/11
9. A Meeting in Karachi: Making the Decision to Attack Spain
10. Amer Azizi and the 3/11 Network
11. "Free our prisoners and leave our lands": The 3/11 Attacks and Al-Qaeda's General Strategy
12. "I invoke Allah and ask him to facilitate my martyrdom": Other Facets of the 3/11 Attacks
13. Fleeing to Join Al-Qaeda's Mesopotamian Branch: The Fugitives of the 3/11 Network
14. After the 2004 Madrid Train Bombings: The Fallout in Spain
Notes
Sources and Bibliography
Index
About the author
Fernando Reinares is director of the Program on Violent Radicalization and Global Terrorism at the Elcano Royal Institute, as well as professor of political science and security studies at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, both in Madrid. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a Global Fellow of the Wilson Center. Reinares coedited, with Bruce Hoffman, The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat: From 9/11 to Osama bin Laden's Death (Columbia, 2014). The Association of 3/11 Terrorism Victims awarded him the Prize for Memory and Peace in 2022 in honor of his research on the attacks.
Summary
In Al-Qaeda's Revenge: The 2004 Madrid Train Bombings, Fernando Reinares tells the story of "3/11" - the March 11, 2004, bombings of commuter trains in Madrid, which killed 192 people and injured more than 1,800. He examines the development of an al-Qaeda conspiracy in Spain from the 1990s through the formation of the 3/11 bombing network beginning in March 2002, and discusses the preparations for and fallout from the attacks. Reinares draws on judicial, police, and intelligence documents to which he had privileged access, as well as on personal interviews with officials in Spain and elsewhere. His full analysis links the Madrid bombings to al-Qaeda's senior leadership and unveils connections between 3/11 and 9/11.
Al-Qaeda's Revenge, Spain's counterpart to The 9/11 Commission Report, was a bestseller in Spain.
Additional text
The book by Prof. Reinares constitutes the definitive work on the 11 March bombings.
