Spanish troops to pull out

Tony Blair and George Bush's Iraq coalition was in crisis today as Spain summoned back all its 1,300 troops.

"The Spanish troops in Iraq will come home," declared José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero after surging to a shock election victory on the back of the Madrid train bombings.

His decision came as a heavy blow to Mr Blair and President Bush at a critical moment, with only months before the deadline for handing power back to the Iraqi people.

Spain under former premier José Maria Aznar had been Mr Blair's most solid European ally in the Iraq invasion and the war against terrorism. But voters turned their back on Mr Aznar after the horror of the Madrid rush-hour slaughter in which 200 people were killed and 1,500 injured.

Mr Blair was desperately hoping to persuade Mr Zapatero to change his mind, in a congratulatory phone call this lunchtime. However, with ministers conceding that al Qaeda terrorism had succeeded in changing an election result, the fear was that the killers may strike in Britain during the next general election campaign, expected next year.

The new Spanish prime minister declared his intention in his first post-election interview, saying his country's peacekeeping force will return when their tour of duty ends on 30 June.

The hope that Mr Blair's phone call might effect a U-turn was based on a single phrase by Mr Zapatero, who said the troops would return "if nothing changes". Mr Blair's spokesman said: "We will obviously point to the progress that we believe is being made in Iraq. But it is for the Spanish to decide." The election outcome handed

more ammunition to Labour's war critics who have claimed Mr Blair's support for America has made Britain a bigger terrorist target.

Downing Street said it was too soon to be sure al Qaeda was to blame for the Madrid outrage - and insisted that, regardless, Britain would have always been a target.

However, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw conceded that the bombings seemed to have changed the election result. He said: "It looks as though the terrible events of last Thursday and not least claims about the way the government may have handled those events, may have swung the vote."

Mr Zapatero lost no time in speaking out against the Iraq invasion. He said: "The war in Iraq was a disaster. The occupation of Iraq is a disaster."

His victory came after voters blamed Mr Aznar for mishandling the aftermath of the train bombings and for a clumsy attempt to blame the Basque separatist group ETA rather than al Qaeda.

The Spanish move will create serious problems for US military planners in Iraq, as Spain has under its command more than 1,000 troops from South and Central American countries including Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican

Republic and El Salvador. Whether they will leave with the Spanish or stay in Iraq and need to be found new commanders remains unclear.

The socialists' victory came soon after it was revealed that one of five men - three Moroccans and two Indians - being questioned over the massacre had already been linked with al Qaeda by Spain's top criminal investigator.

A three-minute silence was held across Europe today in memory of those killed in Madrid. In Britain, travellers at airportsand major railway stations fell silent at 11am while workers at government departments in Whitehall also paid silent tribute. In Madrid, mourners continued to lay candles and flowers near the scene of the bombings.

French President Jacques Chirac laid a wreath in Paris and thousands of workers left their offices in Brussels. The scene was duplicated in other cities across Europe.