During the 27 years it has been active , five members of the GEO have died . The unit has had only one casualty in combat , which occurred during the assault on the Leganés flat where the suspected perpetrators of the Madrid train bombings of 11 March 2004 were hiding . Having realised that they were trapped , the terrorists detonated bombs in the flat killing themselves and GEO Subinspector Francisco Javier Torronteras Gadea . This fatality was probably caused by the fact that the agents who entered the flat did n't know that the terrorists could have explosives
Madrid train bombings
2004 Madrid train bombings
Grupo Especial de Operaciones