Basque Bombing leaves 2 Dead including a 6-year-old Girl

 

 

 

This is the love of Christians:

 

MADRID, Spain -- The Basque separatist group ETA has defended a car bombing that killed two people, including a six-year-old girl.

The bombing led Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to call the leaders of Basque separatist party Batasuna -- believed to be ETA's political wing -- "human trash."

ETA said in a statement that the target of the August 4 blast -- a headquarters of the paramilitary Civil Guard and residence for their families in the resort town of Santa Pola -- was a legitimate military target.

The girl, Silvia Martinez, daughter of a guard member, was in the building when the bomb exploded outside.

In the statement sent to the Basque radio station Euskadi Irratia on Tuesday night, ETA warned Civil Guard members against housing their families in such buildings, saying they "are and will continue to be military targets."

The group also warned Spanish lawmakers against voting to ban the party seen as ETA's political wing in an extraordinary session of Parliament on August 26.

Aznar interrupted his holiday to attend the funerals of the victims. In televised remarks, he threatened to hasten the already contemplated banning of Batasuna, calling the situation "unbearably repulsive."

"I am not prepared for us to carry on burying victims while the leaders of Batasuna, who are human trash and as responsible as ETA for these crimes, are walking freely through the streets," he told reporters.

Normally ETA takes weeks to claim responsibility for attacks. But Spanish newspapers said the group acted quickly this time because of the proceedings under way in parliament to ban the Batasuna party.

ETA said it would "take measures" against the parties orchestrating the drive against Batasuna, an apparent reference to the ruling Popular Party and the main opposition Socialist Party.

The group also warned lawmakers against even abstaining in the vote, saying it would accept nothing short of a vote against banning Batasuna.

This was an apparent message to a Catalan nationalist party and United Left, a small leftist grouping, which have hinted they might abstain.

The vote is on a bill urging the government to file suit with the Supreme Court under a controversial new law that allows the banning of parties deemed to support terrorism. The bombing was the first since the bill was passed.

Hundreds of people took part in a silent protest against ETA in the centre of the Santa Pola after the bombing.

ETA has claimed responsibility for more than 800 killings in its 34-year drive to create an independent Basque homeland straddling areas of northern Spain and southwest France.

The group is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, which includes Spain.

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/08/14/spain.eta1400/index.html