OUR COMMENTARY:  The Madrid blasts also were two and a half years to the day after 911.  We know that the globale elite have an obsession with numerology.  See our 'Illuminati' Section for our archives of the Occult and Symbolism.

NEW DELHI: Put it down to freak coincidence or the subtle imprimatur of al-Qaeda, but the devastating bomb blasts which shook Madrid on Thursday came exactly 911 days after the 9/11 terrorist strikes on the World Trade Centre. 

As the death toll from Thursday's outrages rose to 199, the Spanish authorities said they were still probing the possibility of the Basque separatist group ETA being involved. 

However, a London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds al Arabiya said on Friday that it had received a letter from a group called The Brigades of Abu Hafs al-Masri - a self-proclaimed affiliate of al-Qaeda - taking responsibility for the bombings.

Chillingly for India, the group links Kashmir to the three pet Islamist causes of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Describing Spain as part of the 'Crusader Alliance' led by the US, the letter says: "Is it OK for them to kill our women, children and men in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Kashmir, while we should refrain from killing them?" 

Spain vowed on Friday to hunt down the train bombers as all Europe waited on edge for word of whether Basque or Muslim militants were behind the attack.