MADRID (AFP) - Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar insisted that his government told the truth in the aftermath of the March 11 Madrid train bombings as he gave testimony to a parliamentary inquiry.
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"We told the truth -- it was others who lied and engaged in manipulation," insisted Aznar as he roundly defended his government's decision to pin the blame for the blasts, which killed 191 people and injured close on 2000, on the Basque separatist group ETA.
Spain's worst ever terrorist attack came with the country engaged in the final days of campaigning for a March 14 general election which Aznar's rightwing Popular Party (PP) had been set to win under leader Mariano Rajoy, Aznar having long before decided not to seek a third term in office.
The government's insistence that the bombings were the work of ETA, even as evidence emerged fingering Islamic extremists angered by Aznar's decision to back the US-led war in Iraq (news - web sites), culminated in a surprise Socialist Party (PSOE) victory.
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