170 Dead at last report (BBC World TV Broadcast a few minutes ago), and still rising.

More than 130 people have been killed and dozens injured after a string of powerful explosions rocked three train stations in central Madrid during the morning rush hour.

The capital's regional government security affairs director, Pedro Calvo, confirmed the death toll had risen to 131.

"This is a massacre," government spokesman Eduardo Zaplana said. ( Latest pictures)

In the first attack of the year blamed on ETA, bombs exploded around 7:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) in a commuter train arriving at Atocha station, a bustling hub for subway, commuter and long-distance trains in Spain's capital.

Blasts also rocked trains or platforms at two stations on a commuter line leading to Atocha. The government said there were four blasts altogether.

The leader of the banned Basque separatist party Batasuna denied a Spanish government claim that the armed Basque group ETA had carried out today's train bombings in Madrid and blamed "the Arab resistance" instead.

Party leader Arnaldo Otegi said he "refused to believe" that ETA was responsible for the apparently coordinated bombs which killed at least 131 people and left hundreds wounded.

Earlier, Spanish Government spokesman Eduardo Zaplana condemned what he called "an attack on Spanish democracy" and dubbed ETA a "criminal gang of killers".

But Otegi blamed "the Arab resistance".

Spain was one of the strongest supporters of the US-led invasion of Iraq last year.

My sympathies, amigos.

The trains - two suburban and a long-distance high-speed carrier - were near one of the capital's two main railway stations, Atocha, and at two other stations in the suburbs when the blasts went off, police said.

No warning was given before any of the explosions, Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said.

"A few minutes ago there was a fourth explosion... There have been four explosions in four different places," said Acebes, who declined to give a precise deathtoll.

"We are still finding victims inside some of the carriages... There was no warning."

Emilio Benito, a spokesman for ambulance service Samur told state radio that around 250 people were injured in a single blast at the Atocha train station in central Madrid.

The authorities say that, so far, 173 people are known to have died. At least 600 people have been injured and Madrid's hospitals, swamped with casualties, have made an urgent appeal for blood donations.

Although this attack is not ETA's usual modus operandi, and is Al Qaeda's, the Spanish Government's top suspect is ETA. See post on Global Recon site for why.