US Secretary of State Colin Powell meets Spain's Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid Wednesday to convince him to keep Spanish troops in Iraq.  

Powell was here to attend the state funeral for the victims of the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, which killed 190 people and wounded more than 1,800 others. Authorities have arrested 14 people suspected of launching the attacks. And the suspects are believed to have links to al-Qaeda.

Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party, which beat incumbent Jose Maria Aznar's ruling Popular Party in the March 14 elections, has repeated its campaign pledge to bring back 1,300 Spanish troops in Iraq unless the United Nations takes control by June 30.

Powell has warned that it was not time to pull out the troops.

"It is time to move forward. Terrorism existed in many parts of the world, especially in Spain," Powell said.

Dozens of dignitaries from other countries will also attend the funeral, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2004)