Politicians Condemn ETA After Car Bomb Kills Spanish Civil Guard

An ETA car bomb containing over 100 kilos of explosives has killed a civil guardsman and injured four others in Legutiano in the Basque Country, Spanish National Radio has reported today.

Juan Manuel Pinuel was on guard duty outside the three-storey barracks in the town in Alava Province when the bomb exploded early this morning without any prior warning and killed him.

The whole front facade and the roof collapsed, as well as the wall between the building and the road. Another building some 50 metres away was also damaged.

One of those injured was buried under three metres of rubble and took four hours to be rescued.

Justice Minister Mariano Fernandez Bermejo called for unity, in statements broadcast on the radio.

“It’s essential that we be united, because that unity marks the difference between those barbarians and democrats as a whole, who must be able to rise above their differences to keep up the pressure on those whose sole destiny is the law in its most precise application and therefore prison,” he said.

Basque Premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe condemned ETA, in statements also broadcast on the radio.

“Don’t say, ETA, that it’s for the sake of the homeland or that it’s for the sake of the Basque people, please,” he said. “What heroism is there in attacking a barracks where ordinary civil guardsmen live with their families, with their sons and their daughters? My greatest condemnation on behalf of the Basque people. On behalf of the Basque people I want to say to ETA: Don’t use, don’t tarnish the name of the Basque people, using it as an excuse for your extortion, for your murders. We’re fed up with your violence.”

Originally published by RNE Radio 1, Madrid, in Spanish 0800 14 May 08.

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