Summer Terror Reigns in Spain: Cease-fire Ends, Bomb Campaign Expected

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June 22, 2007 9:40 AM

A carload of explosives that intelligence sources say belongs to the Basque separatist terror group, ETA, was seized just inside Spain's border Thursday. Spanish and U.S. authorities tell ABC News the incident is the clearest evidence the terror group plans a bombing campaign against Spain's cities this summer.

One hundred kilograms, the equivalent of 220 pounds, of explosives were found by authorities during the search of a Ford Focus they said was abandoned by a Basque terrorist as he approached a police checkpoint just over the border from Portugal.

The seizure came 16 days after the group declared its March 2006 cease-fire with Spain at an end and announced it was resuming its violent campaign for independence.

"This morning (Thursday) at about 12:00 hours, two kilometers from the border with Portugal in the town of Ayamonte, Huelva, a Ford Focus was abandoned by ETA Terrorist loaded with 100 Kilos of Dynamite, 8 detonators and 1 manual on bomb making written in the Basque language," a police report on the incident noted. 

ETA stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, which means "Basque Fatherland and Liberty" in the Basque language. Listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department, ETA has used bombings and assassinations to wage a war for independence since the 1960s.

The group has won some international sympathy, including some from inside the United States, in part because of Spain's harsh law enforcement methods against them as well as allegations of torture of Basque extremist prisoners. Sympathy was also triggered by the original repression of the Basque language and culture by then dictator Generalismo Francisco Franco. It was in response to Franco's actions that ETA was formed.

According to authorities, the vehicle seized was not intended as a car bomb but was being used by a courier to smuggle the raw materials for a terror campaign in Spain. 

ETA had declared a cease-fire in March 2006 following a crackdown by authorities that appeared to seriously weaken the group, and the Spanish government had begun talks in an effort to see if some of the group's demands could be met.

The talks stalled, and in December 2006, ETA punctuated its demands by bombing an airport parking garage, killing two but doing nothing to convince Spanish authorities to give in to some of their demands.

Now, police and intelligence officials say, the terror campaign is likely to begin in earnest.

"It appears that since they broke the cease-fire truce and recent crackdown by the Spanish police on their members, they are preparing to set off a bomb in one of the cities in Spain," one source in Spain said.

Spain's intelligence service and law enforcement agencies are seeking to counter the bombing campaign not only with aggressive law enforcement but also with the release of information to the media portraying ETA in a less than flattering light, an effort to counter what authorities feel has been an effective propaganda campaign by ETA.

"A constant feature of such propaganda campaigns is to portray ETA as victims," according to ETA Propaganda at the Service of Terror. But ETA, the sponsored report goes on to note, "threatens, extorts and kills the Basque citizens who do not support their political project, such as politicians, journalists, teachers, businessmen, writers, artists or priests and nuns."

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