A Spanish general was seriously injured yesterday morning when a powerful parcel-bomb exploded as he left his home in the centre of Madrid.
Gen Justo Oreja (63) was rushed to hospital with burns and shrapnel wounds where his condition was reported to be serious but not life-threatening.
Fifteen other people were injured by shrapnel and cuts from broken glass in the blast, although only two of them seriously. There was considerable damage to buildings in the vicinity. A branch of the BBVA bank on the ground floor was completely destroyed, and about 70 apartments were badly damaged.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but security officials have little doubt it was the work of the Basque terrorist movement, ETA, which has frequently targeted members of the armed forces.
Gen Oreja was semi-retired, but continued to work every day in the Ministry of Defence. He was attached to the legal and audit section of the army and is not known to have had any connection with the Basque Country, although ETA has frequently chosen relatively low-profile officers as its victims because the security cordons which surround them is easier to break.
The General Director of the National Police, Mr Juan Cotino, said that the 2 kg bomb was in a satchel on a bicycle which had been chained to a lamp-post outside a branch of the BBVA bank in the same building as Gen Oreja's apartment. Mr Cotino said the terrorists probably detonated their bomb by remote control as Gen Oreja left the building.
When the blast occurred the general had stopped in the doorway to wait for his wife and daughter to drive with him in his official car.
The police had received no warning call, and Mr Cotino said it was a miracle there had not been greater carnage. He appealed for eyewitnesses who might have seen someone leaving the bicycle in the hours before the blast.
Another bomb was detonated in Madrid hours after the general was injured. Police say a parked car exploded without causing injuries. It was almost certainly the getaway car used after the terrorists left their bicycle outside Gen Oreja's flat.