A Spanish judge today handed down the first indictments in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, charging 29 people with murder, terrorism or other crimes after a two-year probe.

The commuter train bombings blamed on Muslim militants killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,700. The charges were contained in a 1,500-page indictment handed down by Juan del Olmo, an investigating magistrate at the National Court, Spain’s hub for investigating terrorism.

Six of the 29 suspects were charged with 191 counts of murder and 1,755 counts of attempted murder. They include Jamal Zougam, a Moroccan merchant who allegedly supplied cell phones used as detonators in the ten backpack bombs that ripped through four crowded trains on the morning of March 11, 2004.

The indictment said that four witnesses had identified Mr Zougam as having been aboard trains that were bombed that day. One of the witnesses has identified him as "the person who places a dark blue sports bag under his seat," the indictment said.

Another key suspect in the attacks, an Algerian named Allekema Lamari, was also identified on the trains, it added. Mr Lemari was among seven alleged ringleaders who blew themselves up to avoid being arrested three weeks after the massacre.

Five of the six lead suspects who were indicted today also face charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation and four counts of causing "terrorist mayhem" - one for each train that was bombed. Nine other men are accused of collaboration with a terrorist group.

A trial is not expected until next year. In the meantime Senor Del Olmo can continue to gather evidence and hand down more indictments.

The suspects accused of murder will probably face jail terms of thousands of years if convicted, although they could only be held in jail for a maximum of 40. Spain has no death penalty or life imprisonment although Spanish prosecutors routinely request symbolically long jail terms in terrorism cases.

The Madrid bombings were Spain’s worst terrorist attacks and are seen as having brought down the government of Jose Maria Aznar, which supported the war in Iraq but initially claimed that the attacks were the work of the Basque separatists Eta - even after evidence emerged of a link with Islamist extremists. Voters punished Senor Aznar's Popular Party in the general election only three days after the attacks.

Seven other suspects in the case, described as ringleaders who included the ideological mastermind of the attacks, blew themselves up in a suburban apartment three weeks later as special forces who traced them through cell phone traffic moved in to make arrests. One policeman died in that explosion.

The other five men accused of murder in today's indictment include Emilio Suarez Trashorras, a Spaniard accused of supplying the dynamite used in the attacks. He allegedly sold it to the bombing cell in exchange for drugs and cash. The only woman indicted is his wife, Carmen Maria Toro Castro, on charges trafficking in explosives.

The other four accused of murder are Rabei Osman, an Egyptian who is now on trial in Italy on separate terrorism charges, and two Moroccans, Hasan al Haski, Youssef Belhadj and Abdelmajid Bouchar.

The indictment of the 29 people represents just a fraction of the 116 who were arrested and questioned in the case, although of those, only 24 were jailed on provisional charges of mass murder or terrorism.

Angeles Dominguez, a survivor of the attacks who now leads an association of March 11 victims, said Senor Del Olmo had concluded his probe hastily. "The massacre was huge. I think more time is needed for investigation," she said.

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