Madrid 'ringleader' dies in blast

The suspected ringleader of the Madrid train bombings was among four suspects who blew themselves up during a police raid, Spain's interior minister said. The suspect, Serhane ben Abdelmajid Farkhet, alias "The Tunisian", was named last week in international arrest warrants connected with the attacks.

Interior Minister Angel Acebes said the suspect died in an explosion in a Madrid suburb on Saturday night.

One policeman was killed and 11 others hurt in the blast, some seriously.

Another of the dead suspects, Moroccan Abdennabi Kounjaa, was also among six suspects named in the arrest warrants, the interior minister said.

On Saturday, Mr Acebes said tests had confirmed that an unexploded bomb found on a high-speed railway line on Friday contained the same explosive as the Madrid bombs.

"The core of the group that carried out the attacks is either arrested or dead in yesterday's collective suicide, including the head of the operative commando," Mr Acebes told a news conference.