Explosives-packed car found as Spanish PM vows to end violence
SPAIN: In a fresh blow to hopes of peace, police in Spain's Basque
region found a car packed with explosives Thursday, five days after a
bomb blast at Madrid airport claimed by the separatist group ETA.
The vehicle contained some 90 kilos of explosive which was "not
primed to go off," a regional government spokesman told AFP.
He said the vehicle had probably been abandoned by ETA members
following the December 23 discovery of a cache of detonators and
explosives at Amorebieta in the north.
The discovery came just hours after Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero, who has made resolving four decades of conflict in
the strife-torn Basque region his top priority, vowed to stamp out
violence in the wake of Saturday's airport attack.
The huge blast in a carpark left one Ecuadoran man dead and a
compatriot missing, presumed dead. Both men were sleeping in their cars
when the bomb went off following three telephone warnings, one of which
claimed responsibility in ETA's name.
It was the first fatality in an ETA operation since 2003. The armed
Basque separatist group has been blamed for more than 850 deaths in a
violent campaign for independence stretching back to 1968.
By Thursday afternoon the organisation had still to issue a statement
explaining the motives behind the airport blast.
"I am more determined than ever to devote my energy to seeing an end
to violence and achieving peace", Zapatero said as he visited the blast
site. All citizens "have a right to a life without bombs or violence,"
Zapatero said while his office said he would soon inform lawmakers of
plans for revamping his anti-terror strategy.
Saturday's bomb broke a nine-month ceasefire which ETA had said would
be permanent.
Madrid observed a day of mourning for the only confirmed victim of
Saturday's attack, Ecuadoran Carlos Alonso Palate. A small group of
people rallied outside the town hall to pay silent tribute.
There were similar small rallies in the Basque country and regional
president Juan Jose Ibarretxe attended one in the administrative capital
Vitoria.
Zapatero's spokesman said he would address parliament - though "not
imminently" - in response to demands from the main conservative
opposition Popular Party (PP) to explain how his anti-terrorist policy
will now evolve.
Madrid, Friday, AFP |