Spain reels under ETA violence

By Vaiju Naravane

PARIS, AUG. 9. The Basque separatist organisation ETA (Basque Freedom and Homeland) struck again with three explosions in less than 24 hours in which five persons, including four Basque separatists perished and 10 others were injured. Stunned disbelief has spread across Spain at this new show of strength and barbarism by ETA hardliners who are demanding a separate state in the Basque provinces in Spain's north and east.

The first explosion which occurred late on Monday night killed four Basque separatists who were driving a car packed with 55 kilos of explosives with which they planned to blow up the Bilbao offices of national dailies El Mundo and El Correo . Those killed included the former chief of the ETA's dreaded Viscaya branch, Patxi Rementeria (39), one of the most wanted terrorists on the Spanish police list.

Twelve hours later, a little after mid-day on Tuesday, an outspoken ETA critic and business leader, Jose Maria Korta, was killed in the Basque town of Zumaia when a bomb placed in a car next to his parking space at the office went off. The device was exploded by remote control.

Six hours later a third explosion in a residential area in northern Madrid injured 10 persons including two children aged two and five. Two of the injured, a building caretaker and a security guard are in a critical condition. The ETA had phoned in a warning about the third explosion just minutes earlier. The bomb went off half an hour after the Prime Minister, Mr. Jose Maria Aznar, spoke out against terrorism at a press conference at his summer home in Oropsa. Describing the ETA's campaign as ``brutal and beastly,'' he said ``Spain will never give in.''

ETA has staged some spectacular attacks since it decided to end its unilateral truce of 18 months last December. The terrorist group, which would like a separate state in the Basque regions of Spain and south western France, used this period to regroup and rearm itself. On July 15, Jose Maria Martin Carpens, a Popular Party councillor in Malaga was killed while on 29 July ETA claimed another victim, Juan Maria Jauregui, a former socialist high official who was shot at point blank range by two hooded men.

One of the four terrorists blown up on Monday night was Patxi Rementeria who was suspected of masterminding the killing of Miguel Angel Blanco, a municipal councillor from Mr. Aznar's Popular Party (PP). Blanco's killing witnessed a wave of protestation across Spain. Police sources say that another occupant of the terrorist car was Antxon Sasiain, a member of the Araba Commando, who fled to France in 1997. Tuesday's assassination has produced disgust, fear and alarm. Even the moderate nationalist Basque party, the PNV, which governs with the support of the EH or Euskal Herritarrok, the political wing of the ETA, has condemned the killing, saying ``There are too many attacks and not enough dialogue.''

The Socialist Party's new leader agreed with Mr. Aznar that ETA had to be isolated. However, there is little agreement in Spain on the best way of dealing with it. Esperenza Aguirre, head of the Senate said: ``You cannot negotiate with someone who places a gun and a threat on the table.''

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Section  : International
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