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World leaders join Spanish for funeral of bomb victims

MADRID, Spain - World leaders dressed in black joined Spanish royalty and families of the 190 victims of Madrid's train bombings today for a state funeral paying tribute to those killed in the nation's worst terrorist attack.

On a cold overcast day, King Juan Carlos and the rest of the royal family shook hands with Secretary of State Colin Powell and other dignitaries as they filed into the 19th century Almudena Cathedral for a midday Mass.

"We have cried, and we have cried together," the archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, told the congregation. Spanish clergy in purple vestments joined the archbishop at the altar.

The royal family sat up front, with the Spanish government and other politicians immediately behind. Foreign dignitaries sat on the left side of the aisle, lined with enormous stone pillars.

The organist played the Spanish national anthem as the king and his family entered the cathedral.

Before the Mass got under way, one unidentified man in the congregation screamed "Mr. Aznar, I hold you responsible for the death of my daughter." He referred to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, whom many Spaniards accuse of provoking the bombings by supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Spaniards have suffered from Basque separatist attacks for decades, and the highest death toll was 21 in 1987.

But the March 11 rail attacks, in which Islamic extremists are the prime suspects, have dwarfed that figure. Besides the dead, more than 1,800 people were injured when 10 bombs concealed in backpacks ripped through four crowded commuter trains during the morning rush hour. The massacre is being called Spain's Sept. 11.

Dozens of police guarded the downtown cathedral, cordoned off for a radius of 500 yards. Police also stepped up security at Madrid's two airports, roads leading into the city and along the route leading motorcades to the cathedral.

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