SPAIN: The Basque separatist group ETA called for dialogue with Spain's incoming government but pledged to maintain its armed campaign for an independent homeland, according to a communiqué published yesterday.
The overture follows Socialist leader Mr José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's surprise win in last week's general election and the March 11th Madrid train bombings, initially blamed on ETA but now linked to Muslim militants.
The Socialists immediately poured cold water on the words of a "terrorist" organisation. "We give no validity to a communiqué from ETA which is a terrorist group," a spokeswoman said.
"We are totally disposed to achieve the solution through dialogue. It is possible to achieve peace via reason and common sense," ETA said, according to a Spanish-language translation of the original Basque. But the statement also said ETA maintained "its decision to continue fighting".
Mr Jesus Eguiguren, a Socialist leader in the Basque country, condemned the statement. "To ask for dialogue with the new government and in the same breath announce that they're going to keep killing is a contradiction in terms," he told Spanish state radio.
In Madrid, more than 5,000 people attended a Mass yesterday in the station at Pozo del Tio Raimundo, where one of the four train bombs exploded 10 days ago. City officials and politicians joined survivors and families to pray for the victims of the massacre.
At the same time, about a thousand Muslims, mostly North African immigrants, staged their own memorial in the centre of Madrid. Many carried banners reading: "Islam doesn't kill" or "Islam is not terrorism". One of them said: "We are Muslims, and Muslims are peaceful people."
Investigators believe they have identified the brains behind the attack, though he has not been named. They are searching for the man, almost certainly a Moroccan, and for the safe house used by the terrorists in the weeks before they placed the bombs on the crowded commuter trains. They gained vital evidence from a sports bag containing a mobile phone, explosives and a detonator found on one of the trains. The mobile phone and the SIM card led them to the phone shop in Madrid, where they detained three Moroccans and two Indians, who have since been charged with murder and forgery.
Four other Moroccans and a Spaniard are being held for interrogation, but have not yet been charged. Police have so far failed to find where the terrorists stored explosives for almost two weeks. They are basing their searches in Alcala de Henares and the area where the three Moroccans were arrested.
Meanwhile, Mr Zapatero repeated his pledge that unless they come under UN command by June 30th, Spanish troops would be withdrawn from Iraq. In an interview with El Pais newspaper, he said: "The occupation and the handling of the occupation have been a disaster. People see the situation in Iraq as neocolonialism."