DATE=6/25/98 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-234526 TITLE=BASQUE POLITICIAN KILLED (L ONLY) BYLINE=GIL CARBAJAL DATELINE=MADRID CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: IN SPAIN, ANOTHER TOWN COUNCILMAN HAS BEEN KILLED IN AN ATTACK IN BASQUE COUNTRY. GIL CARBAJAL REPORTS FROM MADRID THAT THE VICTIM HAD REPLACED A COUNCILMAN KILLED LATE LAST YEAR BY E-T-A, A BASQUE SEPARATIST GROUP. TEXT: TOWN COUNCILMAN MANUEL ZAMARRENO OF SPAIN'S RULING POPULAR PARTY WAS KILLED THIS MORNING WHEN A BOMB PLACED ON A MOTORBIKE WAS SET OFF BY REMOTE CONTROL AS HE WALKED BY WITH HIS POLICE ESCORT. THEY WERE AROUND 200 METERS FROM THE DOOR OF THE COUNCILMAN'S HOUSE, IN THE NORTHERN BASQUE CITY OF RENTERIA, WHEN THE EXPLOSION OCCURRED. THE BASQUE REGIONAL POLICEMAN WAS WOUNDED BY SHRAPNEL AND RUSHED TO THE HOSPITAL. HIS LIFE IS REPORTEDLY NOT IN DANGER. (OPT) THE MORE THAN 160 POPULAR PARTY COUNCILMEN AND OFFICIALS IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED POLICE ESCORTS AS A CONSEQUENCE OF E-T-A'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST THEM. (END OPT) MR. ZAMARRENO ONLY RECENTLY TOOK UP THE SEAT LEFT VACANT AFTER HIS FRIEND JOSE LUIS LASO WAS KILLED BY E-T-A GUNMEN IN DECEMBER. HE TOOK UP THE SEAT RELUCTANTLY, SAYING HE DID SO IN HOMAGE TO THE MEMORY OF HIS SLAIN FRIEND. MR. ZAMARRENO, 42-YEARS OLD, WAS THE FATHER OF FOUR CHILDREN. HE IS THE SEVENTH COUNCILMAN KILLED IN TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE PAST THREE YEARS. IN APRIL, THE OTHER POPULAR PARTY COUNCILMAN IN RENTERIA, CONCEPCION GIRONZA, RESIGNED HER SEAT UNDER THE PRESSURE OF CONTINUOUS DEATH THREATS. ONLY LAST MONTH MR. ZAMARRENO'S CAR WAS SET ON FIRE. THIS LATEST TERRORIST ATTACK COMES TWO DAYS AFTER THE E-T-A ANNOUNCED THE END OF A TRUCE IT SAYS IT HAD BEEN OBSERVING IN ATTACKS AGAINST THE BASQUE REGIONAL POLICE, KNOWN AS THE ERTZIANTZAS. IN A NEWS CONFERENCE THURSDAY, SPANISH INTERIOR MINISTER JAIME MAYOR OREJA REITERATED THE GOVERNMENT'S REFUSAL TO CONSIDER NEGOTIATING WITH E-T-A OR ITS POLITICAL WING, HERRI BATASUNA, UNTIL THEY DECLARED AN END TO TERRORIST ATTACKS. NEARLY A YEAR AGO SIX MILLION SPANIARDS TOOK TO THE STREETS TO PROTEST THE EXECUTION OF A POPULAR PARTY COUNCILMAN FROM ERMUA. (SIGNED) NEB/GC/KL 25-Jun-98 11:14 AM EDT (1514 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
