The town councillor, Mr Jose Maria Pedrosa, a conservative, was shot dead yesterday near his home in the Basque town of Durango. Eye witnesses said a lone gunman approached Mr Pedrosa from behind and fired a single shot into the back of his head before escaping.
There seems little doubt that the gunman was a member of the Basque terrorist movement ETA who have repeatedly threatened politicians, particularly members of the Popular Party. Mr Pedrosa (57), one of four PP councillors in Durango, was the eighth Popular Party official killed by ETA in the last five years and he had received numerous threats from the terrorists. He was the fifth ETA victim since they ended their 14-month ceasefire last November.
The truce was broken for the first time in January when an army Colonel was blown up by a car bomb in Madrid. In February a socialist politician, Fernando Buesa, and his bodyguard were murdered in the centre of the Basque capital Vitoria, and only one month ago the Basque journalist, Jose Luis Lopez de la Calle was shot and killed in Andaoin, near San Sebastian.
The nightly episodes of "kale boroka", or street violence, continues unabated with banks, buses, telephone boxes and public building as regular targets. On Friday night the tax offices in Renteria, near San Sebastian, were destroyed by a fire bomb attack for the fourth time in five years, and on Saturday night the Basque newspaper El Correo was the target of fire bombs, although on this occasion little damage was caused.
The latest killing comes at a time when the war of words and insults between politicians who support the nationalist parties and those based in Madrid has been heating up and accusations have been thrown across party lines.
The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) has accused the national police and civil guard of failure to co-operate and share intelligence with the autonomous police force, the Ertxainxa.