173 People Killed in Madrid Explosions. The Associated Press has absolutely no trouble using the word “terrorism” unadorned by their usual sneer quotes.

The explosives used in the blasts were a type of dynamite that the ETA Basque separatist group normally uses, the Interior Ministry said following tests.

But a U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “it’s too early to tell (who planted the bombs), we’re not ruling anything out.”

People streamed away in tears from Madrid’s Atocha terminal — where bombs exploded on two trains — as rescue workers carried bodies covered in sheets of gold fabric. The wounded, faces bloodied, sat on curbs and used cellphones to tell loved ones they were alive. Buses were pressed into service as ambulances, and hospitals appealed for blood donations.

Panicked commuters trampled each other, dropping bags and losing their shoes as they tried to escape from Atocha staion. Some fled into dangerous, darkened tunnels.

A senior fire department investigator reported seeing 70 bodies along a platform at El Pozo station, although one corpse had to be retrieved from the roof.

Spanish officials are blaming Basque separatists. However …

A top Basque politician, Arnold Otegi, denied the separatists were behind the blasts and blamed “Arab resistance.” Many al-Qaida-linked terrorists were captured in Spain or were believed to have operated from there.

Otegi told Radio Popular in San Sebastian that ETA always phones in warnings before it attacks. Acebes said there was no warning before Thursday’s attack.

“The modus operandi, the high number of victims and the way it was carried out make me think, and I have a hypothesis in mind, that yes it may have been an operative cell from the Arab resistance,” Otegi said, noting that Spain’s government backed the Iraq war despite domestic opposition.

Just suppose these bombs turn out to have been planted by Islamic terrorists. Will the AP then retroactively add quotes around the T word?