For the second time in less than 24 hours ETA terrorists have struck in Spain. Mr JosΘ Mar∅a Lid≤n Corbi (50), a judge and law professor at Duesto University, was shot as he left his home in the Bilbao suburb of Getxo yesterday morning.
Mr Lid≤n, accompanied by his wife, was driving his car from his underground garage shortly after 7.30 a.m. when two gunmen lying in wait shot him in the head at close range and ran down the street. His son, who had preceded his father up the ramp in his own car, heard the shots and alerted emergency services, but they could do nothing to save him. The judge, who presided over the regional court of Vizcaya and never used a bodyguard, was not considered a target.
Security forces have no doubt the killing was another attack by ETA, which detonated a car bomb in a residential area of Madrid on Tuesday injuring 80 people, four seriously.
The two terrorists responsible were detained after a dramatic car chase through the streets, when a member of the public followed them talking on his mobile phone to police.
Aitor Garcia confessed to police he had joined the Madrid Commando cell last April and Ana Belen Egues, a former Herri Batasuna town councillor, said she had taken part in all attacks in the Spanish capital during the past year. Juan Ignacio Rubenach, named as leader of the cell, managed to escape before police could arrest him. They searched three apartments in Madrid and another in Salamanca and found explosives, bomb-making equipment, weapons and computer files.
Observers believe ETA has stepped up its campaign of violence since September 11th to show it is still in business in spite of the global crackdown.