Post by cammy on Jul 31, 2009 13:14:02 GMT 1
Spain is on heightened alert for the 50th anniversary of Eta, the separatist group blamed for two car bombings which killed two policemen and injured dozens more.
Two policemen were killed by the car bomb outside their barracks on Majorca
The pair of Civil Guard officers were killed on the island of Majorca when their car exploded outside a barracks.
Authorities quickly closed the island's airport and seaports in an attempt to prevent the "terrorists" behind the attack from escaping.
Thousands of holidaymakers faced being stranded but normal travel operations resumed two hours later.
A second bomb was found under another police vehicle in the same area and detonated in a controlled explosion.
The police barracks is only a few miles from the Marivent palace, where members of Spain's royal family were spending their traditional summer holiday.
A memorial service will be held today for the killed policemen, Carlos Saenz de Tejada Garcia, 28, and Diego Salva Lesaun, 27.
The Majorca blast came a day after a car bomb explosion outside a Civil Guard barracks in the northern Spanish city of Burgos injured more than 40 people.
The force of the blast left a crater outside the barracks and blew off much of the 14-storey building's facade.
The Spanish Government blames both attacks on Eta.
"The Government has given orders to the security forces to be on maximum alert, to double their work, to increase even more their efforts and to protect themselves from these vile murderers," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said.
Eta is held responsible for more than 800 killings in the past 50 years in a bloody campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southern France.
Authorities have cracked down on the group in recent years, arresting many of its most senior activists.
But if this week's bombings are confirmed as Eta attacks, it would be a challenge to the assertion that it has become a weakened force.
Two policemen were killed by the car bomb outside their barracks on Majorca
The pair of Civil Guard officers were killed on the island of Majorca when their car exploded outside a barracks.
Authorities quickly closed the island's airport and seaports in an attempt to prevent the "terrorists" behind the attack from escaping.
Thousands of holidaymakers faced being stranded but normal travel operations resumed two hours later.
A second bomb was found under another police vehicle in the same area and detonated in a controlled explosion.
The police barracks is only a few miles from the Marivent palace, where members of Spain's royal family were spending their traditional summer holiday.
A memorial service will be held today for the killed policemen, Carlos Saenz de Tejada Garcia, 28, and Diego Salva Lesaun, 27.
The Majorca blast came a day after a car bomb explosion outside a Civil Guard barracks in the northern Spanish city of Burgos injured more than 40 people.
The force of the blast left a crater outside the barracks and blew off much of the 14-storey building's facade.
The Spanish Government blames both attacks on Eta.
"The Government has given orders to the security forces to be on maximum alert, to double their work, to increase even more their efforts and to protect themselves from these vile murderers," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said.
Eta is held responsible for more than 800 killings in the past 50 years in a bloody campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southern France.
Authorities have cracked down on the group in recent years, arresting many of its most senior activists.
But if this week's bombings are confirmed as Eta attacks, it would be a challenge to the assertion that it has become a weakened force.