SPAIN: The Spanish Prime Minister, Mr José Maria Aznar, interrupted his summer holidays in Menorca to fly to Alicante to attend the funeral Mass yesterday of the two victims of Sunday's bomb attack in the coastal resort of Santa Pola.
The car bomb, placed outside an office and apartment block belonging to the Civil Guards, killed the six-year-old daughter of one officer and a 57-year-old man waiting to catch a bus after spending the day on the beach with his family. Thirty-four other people were injured, including a cousin of the dead child.
Authorities have no doubt that the attack was the work of the Basque terrorist movement ETA, which has frequently targeted coastal resorts to damage Spain's vital tourist industry. In March, a terrorist suspect died when a bomb she was setting exploded prematurely in Villajoyosa, only 25 km from Santa Pola.
Two months later, three Basque terrorists were arrested in a raid in Valencia when police uncovered 30 kg of explosives as well as arms and ammunition, and in June three car bombs exploded outside hotels near Malaga.
The recently appointed interior minister, Mr Angel Acebes, was visiting nearby Benidorm at the weekend. He said that the bomb contained between 40 and 50 kg of explosives placed in a Ford Escort car, which had been stolen in Montpellier in France on July 5th.
"We don't believe they were part of a permanent group in the area, rather an itinerant group sent in, probably from outside, to carry out the attack," he said yesterday.
Unlike many other attacks, the terrorists failed to telephone a warning before the attack, nor was it followed by a second blast, which usually occurs when they destroy their getaway vehicle.
Not only was the Civil Guards' apartment block destroyed in the bombing, but 150 other families were affected and some of them say they have lost everything. A special office has been opened to assist victims.
"We can help them repair the damage, but we can do nothing to help the families of the two fatalities which have been destroyed by their loss," the mayor of Santa Pola, Mr Francico Conejero, said.
This is the first ETA attack since a new law which permits banning political parties which back terrorism was passed, but which does not cover events which took place before its introduction.
Many people have called for the banning of Batasuna, ETA's political front, and are now waiting for it to condemn Sunday's bombing before moving against it.