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Palma Nova, Spain (UPI) Jul 31, 2009 Troubled by an intense police crackdown that has thinned its ranks, Basque separatist group ETA this week demonstrated it is still alive when it staged bombing attacks on police buildings in Mallorca and northern Spain. Spanish authorities on Friday intensified the hunt for six members of Basque terror group ETA believed to be involved in the terror attacks on the popular vacation island of Mallorca, according to the Web site of Spanish daily El Mundo. The newspapers published the headshots of four men and two women in their 20s. Thursday's explosion in front of a police building in Palma Nova, a busy beach resort southwest of the capital Palma, killed two people -- Guardia Civil officers -- and injured dozens more. The bomb was placed below a police car when it blew up. Spanish police said they detected a second bomb and defused it before it could detonate. As a result of the attack, authorities shut down all outbound air and maritime traffic, leaving thousands of holidaymakers stranded. The attack occurred on the eve of the 50th anniversary of ETA's creation and shortly before Spain's King Juan Carlos is due to start his summer holidays in Marivent Palace, just 10 miles away from the attack site. It's the latest of two bombings over the past few days. On Wednesday a 440-pound bomb ripped through the front of police barracks in the town on Burgos, injuring more than 50 people. "It's extremely lucky that no one died, because it was a terrible explosion," Carlos Molero, spokesman for the emergency services, told the London Times. The two latest attacks were a loud reminder that ETA is still willing and able to kill, although Europe's last major terrorist group has been decimated recently. The death toll linked to ETA assassinations and bombings stands at 856, but their ability to kill has decreased. Intelligence cooperation with France has handed Spain's anti-terror police several successes, with four heads of ETA's military wing being arrested over the past 18 months. While some ETA members have called for ending the killing, the core of the separatist group still believes in violence. The last cease-fire ended in late 2006 after only six months when ETA attacked Madrid's Barajas airport, killing two people. No wonder Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero is steering a hard-line course against the group, with further cease-fires out of the question. In response to the attack on Mallorca, Zapatero said his goal was to crush ETA. "They have zero chance to hide or escape," he said Thursday in a TV address. "They will be hunted down, they will be arrested." Formed under the oppressive regime of General Franco, Euskadi ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom), or ETA, for the past four decades has fought for an independent state in northern Spain and southwest France. The violent resistance dates back to the 19th century, when religiously conservative Basques disapproved of the too liberal style of governance in Madrid, which aimed for more centralization. The Basque region as early as the Middle Ages enjoyed special privileges and autonomy, although they were not always fully honored by Madrid. When the Francesco Franco government harshly cut some of those privileges and tried to destroy Basque nationalism, ETA formed itself as a militant resistance group aimed to end the oppression and install a fully independent Marxist-Leninist Basque state. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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![]() ![]() Beijing (AFP) July 31, 2009 China's military is drawing up rules of engagement for anti-terrorist combat missions amid growing threats from within and outside the nation, state press reported Friday. It would mark the first time the People's Liberation Army had separate regulations governing anti-terrorism operations, the China Daily said. "The army is drafting an Ordinance for Anti-terrorism Combat Operations base ... read more |
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