On 11 May 2004, three days before the general elections in Spain, Islamic terrorists detonated ten bombs in suburban trains from Madrid. 191 people are killed and nearly 2000 people are injured.
First, the conservative government under José María Aznar, which joined the US invasion in Iraq, tried to hold the Basque separatist group ETA responsible for the attacks. But soon, there are increasing indications of an Islamist background. The government's attempt to assign the delinquent to the ETA, although there was evidence for an Islamist background at the same time, lead to nationwide protests and to the deselection of the conservative government. The new Socialist Prime Minister José-Luis Zapatero immediately started the withdrawal of Spanish military from Iraq.
Today, a memorial in the Atocha train station in Madrid remembers the attack. Each evening, when the sunlight hits the upper cylindrical part of the memorial, this part turns into a candle that quickly dies down with sunset.