Authorities Blame Basque Separatist Group ETA

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 12.30.06 09:00 EST: Spain's government says Basque separatists with ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or Basque Fatherland and Liberty) ended a nine-month cease fire by exploding a car bomb in a parking lot near the new terminal at Madrid's airport this morning. Authorities say the attack slightly injured 26, but one person remains unaccounted for.

The attack came just after the hanging execution of convicted ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein spurring fears of Islamic militant involvement. After the initial panic, however, officials said two warning calls were made in the Basque region just before the blast. In the second call, a man claimed responsibility for the ETA.

At a press conference, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said, "Violence is incompatible with dialogue in a democracy. This attack interrupts nine months without violent activity. It breaks a permanent cease-fire that ETA issued nine months ago."

According to the Associated Press, the Civil Guard, a Spanish paramilitary police agency, said the explosion was from a car bomb. An agency spokesman said five injured people were taken to a nearby hospital, but none had serious injuries.

Renzo Zarzal was working at a nearby highway toll booth when the bomb exploded around 09:00. He told the Associated Press, "I was outside my booth talking to a colleague when there was a massive blast that really shook us and rattled the roof of the toll complex.

This latest attack has many fearing the outcome of a peace initiative put forth by the country's Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. He had said he would negotiate with ETA once he was certain the group's March truce was serious. Just last Friday government officials had expressed hope ETA's cease-fire was real and peace talks might lead to a permanent solution.

The last ETA attack resulting in a death occurred in May of 2003, but it has continued low-level, harassing attacks since declaring a cease-fire and truce in March 2006.

FMI: www.spainemb.org