Sam Djoco

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Sam Djoco had only returned from his home in Senegal a week before. He had originally left the country seven years before to try to provide a better future for his wife and six children. Before parting, he promised them that they would see each other soon in Spain. On 11 March, the Senegalese man was going to meet his brother, who was due to arrive at Chamartin station on a train from France. Sam Djoco never reached his destination: he died on the train that was blown up at EL Pozo station.

11 March 2004 fell on a Thursday. Early that morning, a number of terrorists with links to Al-Qaeda planted thirteen bombs on four suburban trains covering routes running through Madrid. Ten of the bombs exploded between 7.37 and 7.39 am, when the trains were at Atocha, El Pozo and Santa Eugenia stations and alongside Calle Téllez. 191 people were killed in the attack and around 1,500 were wounded. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Spanish history. On 3 April 2004, agents from the Special Operations Group (GEO) were about to enter an apartment in Leganés where the perpetrators of the attacks were believed to be hiding when the terrorists detonated twenty kilograms of explosives in an act of collective suicide. The ensuing blast killed one of the officers, bringing the total number of people killed by the 11 March bombers to 192.

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