whottt
02-09-2005, 07:19 AM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6938887/
Powerful car bomb explodes in Madrid
ETA claims responsibility; at least 10 people injuredThe Associated Press
Updated: 5:17 a.m. ET Feb. 9, 2005MADRID, Spain - A powerful car bomb exploded on Wednesday in Madrid after a telephone warning from a caller claiming to represent the armed Basque separatist group ETA. At least 10 people were injured.
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The blast came a week after Parliament overwhelmingly rejected a proposal from the Basque legislature to give the troubled region autonomy bordering on independence.
The Interior Ministry said the bomb went off around 9:30 a.m. near Ifema, a convention center where King Juan Carlos was to attend the opening of an art show later in the day.
Television footage showed smoke rising from the site, outside a building housing the French computer manufacturer Bull.
“We have treated 10 people, all slightly injured with glass cuts,” said Javier Ayuso, a spokesman for Madrid’s emergency services.
Other reports gave higher numbers for the injured but said no one was seriously hurt.
The telephone warning was received by the Basque newspaper Gara, which often serves as a mouthpiece for ETA.
Madrid fearful since train bombings
Madrid has been jittery since the March 11 bombings of Madrid commuter trains, which killed 191 and wounded more than 1,500. The attack was blamed on Islamic militants.
After the attack voters unseated the pro-American conservative government in favor of the Socialist Party, which promptly withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq.
ETA detonated a small bomb in a Mediterranean resort hotel on Jan. 30, two days before the vote in Parliament that rejected the plan for broader autonomy. One person was slightly injured.
Juan Jose Ibarretxe, the region’s president, responded to the vote by calling early elections for April 17, hoping to capitalize on Basque nationalists’ anger.
The ETA’s political wing, Batasuna, was outlawed in 2003 and Spanish officials insisted last week that it will not be allowed to field candidates in the election.
ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s in a campaign of bombings and shootings aimed at creating an independent Basque homeland in land straddling northern Spain and southwest France.
Powerful car bomb explodes in Madrid
ETA claims responsibility; at least 10 people injuredThe Associated Press
Updated: 5:17 a.m. ET Feb. 9, 2005MADRID, Spain - A powerful car bomb exploded on Wednesday in Madrid after a telephone warning from a caller claiming to represent the armed Basque separatist group ETA. At least 10 people were injured.
advertisement
The blast came a week after Parliament overwhelmingly rejected a proposal from the Basque legislature to give the troubled region autonomy bordering on independence.
The Interior Ministry said the bomb went off around 9:30 a.m. near Ifema, a convention center where King Juan Carlos was to attend the opening of an art show later in the day.
Television footage showed smoke rising from the site, outside a building housing the French computer manufacturer Bull.
“We have treated 10 people, all slightly injured with glass cuts,” said Javier Ayuso, a spokesman for Madrid’s emergency services.
Other reports gave higher numbers for the injured but said no one was seriously hurt.
The telephone warning was received by the Basque newspaper Gara, which often serves as a mouthpiece for ETA.
Madrid fearful since train bombings
Madrid has been jittery since the March 11 bombings of Madrid commuter trains, which killed 191 and wounded more than 1,500. The attack was blamed on Islamic militants.
After the attack voters unseated the pro-American conservative government in favor of the Socialist Party, which promptly withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq.
ETA detonated a small bomb in a Mediterranean resort hotel on Jan. 30, two days before the vote in Parliament that rejected the plan for broader autonomy. One person was slightly injured.
Juan Jose Ibarretxe, the region’s president, responded to the vote by calling early elections for April 17, hoping to capitalize on Basque nationalists’ anger.
The ETA’s political wing, Batasuna, was outlawed in 2003 and Spanish officials insisted last week that it will not be allowed to field candidates in the election.
ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s in a campaign of bombings and shootings aimed at creating an independent Basque homeland in land straddling northern Spain and southwest France.