Iberia A340-600
2006-12-30, 12:45 PM
Since I would call myself the Spain corespondent on this forum I thought it was my duty to post this:
It is a real shame that they targeted Terminal 4, it is such a beautiful piece of architecture.
Also a shame that they broke their 9 month violence cease.
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spain has blamed a powerful bomb explosion at the country's busiest airport Saturday on Basque separatist group ETA, declaring it a violation of a nine-month cease-fire.
Several people suffered minor injuries when a stolen van exploded in a parking lot near terminal four at Madrid's Barajas International Airport, which had been evacuated after police received a warning.
One man is reported missing after the explosion. If found dead, he would be the first fatality caused by ETA in three years..
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the government condemned the attack, "which breaks nine months without violence on the part of ETA, which breaks the permanent ceasefire."
A Spanish interior ministry official earlier said two calls had been received by police, the first a warning, the second specifying the type of car and claiming it was the work of ETA.
An end to ETA's cease-fire would be a major blow to Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Witnesses described a huge column of smoke billowing out from the scene of the blast.
Samantha Graham, an employee of CNN's parent company who was in an airport concourse for a flight, said hundreds of people evacuated the terminal through jetways and have gathered outside on the airport tarmac. (Watch smoke billowing from airport Video)
ETA announced a "permanent" cease-fire last March, raising hopes for an end to nearly 40 years of separatist violence blamed for more than 800 deaths and thousands of injuries.
In the autumn, so-called low-level street violence resumed in the northern Basque region -- which ETA is seeking to make an independent nation -- as pro-ETA youths burned buses and automatic bank teller machines and carried out other attacks.
In late October, authorities blamed ETA for the theft in Nimes, southern France, of 350 pistols and revolvers and 10,000 rounds of ammunition from an arms factory.
Saturday's explosion, which came shortly after the execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, raised fears of a retaliatory strike in a country that has suffered attacks in response to its support for international military operations.
In March 2004, 191 people were killed by bomb attacks on Madrid commuter trains. Those attacks, blamed on al-Qaeda-linked militants, led to Spain's withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Barajas airport is Spain's busiest, handling more than 40 million passengers a year, according to the airport's official Web site.
CNN's Madrid Bureau chief Al Goodman contributed to this report
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12 ... index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/30/madrid.blast/index.html)
It is a real shame that they targeted Terminal 4, it is such a beautiful piece of architecture.
Also a shame that they broke their 9 month violence cease.
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spain has blamed a powerful bomb explosion at the country's busiest airport Saturday on Basque separatist group ETA, declaring it a violation of a nine-month cease-fire.
Several people suffered minor injuries when a stolen van exploded in a parking lot near terminal four at Madrid's Barajas International Airport, which had been evacuated after police received a warning.
One man is reported missing after the explosion. If found dead, he would be the first fatality caused by ETA in three years..
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the government condemned the attack, "which breaks nine months without violence on the part of ETA, which breaks the permanent ceasefire."
A Spanish interior ministry official earlier said two calls had been received by police, the first a warning, the second specifying the type of car and claiming it was the work of ETA.
An end to ETA's cease-fire would be a major blow to Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Witnesses described a huge column of smoke billowing out from the scene of the blast.
Samantha Graham, an employee of CNN's parent company who was in an airport concourse for a flight, said hundreds of people evacuated the terminal through jetways and have gathered outside on the airport tarmac. (Watch smoke billowing from airport Video)
ETA announced a "permanent" cease-fire last March, raising hopes for an end to nearly 40 years of separatist violence blamed for more than 800 deaths and thousands of injuries.
In the autumn, so-called low-level street violence resumed in the northern Basque region -- which ETA is seeking to make an independent nation -- as pro-ETA youths burned buses and automatic bank teller machines and carried out other attacks.
In late October, authorities blamed ETA for the theft in Nimes, southern France, of 350 pistols and revolvers and 10,000 rounds of ammunition from an arms factory.
Saturday's explosion, which came shortly after the execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, raised fears of a retaliatory strike in a country that has suffered attacks in response to its support for international military operations.
In March 2004, 191 people were killed by bomb attacks on Madrid commuter trains. Those attacks, blamed on al-Qaeda-linked militants, led to Spain's withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Barajas airport is Spain's busiest, handling more than 40 million passengers a year, according to the airport's official Web site.
CNN's Madrid Bureau chief Al Goodman contributed to this report
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12 ... index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/30/madrid.blast/index.html)