29568-28A SPANISH woman living in Swindon has spoken of her shock and sorrow over the terrorist attack on her home country.

Luckily, none of Begoa Diez's friends or family was hurt but she said: "I feel this could have happened to any of us, anywhere."

At least 200 people were killed in the Madrid bomb blasts when 10 bombs exploded on packed commuter trains last Thurs- day.

The 34-year-old settled in Swindon 10 years ago after she married Martin Wiltshire, who is now the liberal democrat ward councillor for Eastcott.

"It is just so sad that ordinary workers who were just getting on with their lives are the ones who are paying the price," she said. "Spain was not an obvious target, you would have thought London was because the UK is a strong ally of America."

Begoa is from Bilbao in the Basque country, the area in northern Spain for which the terrorist group ETA wants independence.

Most of her family still live in Bilbao but she has some cousins in Madrid.

The group was initially blamed for the series of explosions along nine miles of commuter line. Now the international investigation into the attacks is focusing on Islamic extremists.

"People in Spain are just outraged. They have had to deal with ETA for the last 30 years and now it seems al Qaida as well," Begoa said.

"People in the Basque country get labelled as terrorists because of ETA but not all of us, many do not agree with violence. Next time ETA strike it will be awful for Spain."

Millions of people turned out in the streets of Spanish towns and cities in a display of collective mourning last week

Begoa, who is mother to Xavier, three, and Ander, one, said it was usual for people in her country to make a public declaration when the feel strongly about something.

"My friends were probably among the people on the streets," she added.

She thinks last week's attacks affected elections in Spain which resulted in Socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero being swept into office on the back of public anger over the train bombings.

He has pledged to bring Spain's 1,300 troops home from Iraq unless the United Nations takes control there.

Bhavani Vadde