Madrid bombings: The case against ETA

By ANNE PENKETH

If Thursday's bombing was carried out by the Basque separatist organisation ETA, the militants would have had the motivation, the equipment and the sophistication.

Although ETA yesterday categorically denied responsibility for the commuter train bombs, investigators said that rucksacks in which some of the bombs were placed each contained 10.2 kilos of the Spanish-made explosive Titadine.

Titadine has been used in previous ETA attacks. A large quantity of the explosive was stolen from a French mine some years ago.

However police also said yesterday that the detonator in an unexploded bomb contained a copper detonator, whereas the detonators commonly used by ETA are made of aluminium.

The bombs, which had their alarms set for 7.39 a.m. were detonated by mobile phone.


"Some people say that this sort of thing would be beyond ETA's capabilities - but we need to be circumspect," said Jonathan Eyal, the director of the Royal United Services Institute. "It is a fallacy to believe that ETA were somehow amateurs."

Mr Eyal recalled that in the final days of the Franco era, the then prime minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, was assassinated in Madrid when a bomb was detonated as his armoured car passed by. "That was a very skilful operation - even 25 years ago ETA had the sophistication," said Mr Eyal.

The hallmarks of ETA bombings include a telephoned warning ahead of an attack. In the case of Thursday's bombing, no such warning was given. ETA claims invariably follow an attack, although not necessarily on the same day.

ETA attacks also tend to be single, rather than the multiple, simultaneous "spectaculars" favoured by al Qa'eda.

But Paul Heywood, an expert from Nottingham University, said that ETA may have been trying to prove a point by carrying out such a large-scale attack.

Spanish authorities had foiled what they said was a major ETA attack planned for central Madrid, when they stopped a van travelling from France containing half a ton of explosives and detained two people on February 29. An attack in central Madrid of such a size could have killed a large number of civilians.

It was also known that ETA operatives had been looking at railway stations as a possible target: Spanish authorities foiled an ETA attack involving rucksack bombs on a train at Christmas.

Throughout their 36-year struggle for independence, ETA has at times gone for military targets - by attacking civil guards for example - and civilians in other periods to coincide with broader political aims.

The timing of Thursday's attacks - only three days before general elections on Sunday - appeared to have an obvious political motive.

The ETA thinking may be that its support may grow in its Basque homeland if a re-elected conservative government cracks down further on the separatists after the bombing.

The Aznar government has consistently refused Basque calls for a referendum on further regional powers. The prime minister has ruled out any negotiations with the separatists and has banned ETA's political wing Batasuna.

Could there be a link between al Qa'eda Islamic operatives and ETA? Although there are known links among European organisations Mr Eyal thought an alliance between the Basques and Islamic fundamentalists was extremely unlikely.

"There would be a monumental backlash against ETA in the Basque country if it allied itself with al Qa'eda," he said.

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