DATE=7/12/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SPAIN / BOMB (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-264342
BYLINE=LOURDES NAVARRO
DATELINE=LONDON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Basque separatist group is being blamed for
an explosion that injured eight people in Madrid.
Lourdes Navarro reports police in Spain suspect the
ETA group put a car bomb in the center of the capital.
TEXT: The explosion occurred in early morning at a
popular Madrid shopping district. The blast shattered
windows and showered debris throughout the area. Two
of those injured were policemen and two were homeless
people.
An anonymous caller claiming to represent the Basque
separatist group ETA called one-half hour before the
15-kilograms of explosive detonated in a car. Police
say only the timing of the explosion - before morning
rush hour - helped avoid more bloodshed.
The blast comes four-days after a bomb exploded
outside a newspaper office in Spain's Basque region -
an attack blamed on ETA.
And it comes three-years to the day after ETA murdered
a local politician, Miguel Angel Blanco, prompting
millions to take to the streets to demand an end to
the violence.
ETA has been fighting since the 1960's to carve an
independent state out of Basque areas wedged between
Spain and France. Its campaigns have left 800 people
dead.
ETA announced this past December that it was ending
its 14-month cease-fire. Since then, ETA has been
blamed for the deaths of five people in a series of
shootings and bombings. The group blamed their
reversion to violence on the governments refusal to
discuss their demands for self-rule during peace
talks. (SIGNED)
NEB/LN/JWH/RAE
12-Jul-2000 07:57 AM EDT (12-Jul-2000 1157 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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