ETA threatened attacks before Madrid massacre

23 July 2004

MADRID – The Spanish government said Friday it is to send a report to the inquiry into the Madrid terrorist bombings about alleged threats by ETA to carry out attacks before the 11 March massacre.

The secret service report is about an ETA terrorist, named as Josu Ternera, who is a member of the so-called Badajoz Brigade.

In an apparent phone-tap carried out at Frankfurt airport on 14 February, Ternera is alleged to have been heard saying: “We are going to show the Spaniards what we can do”.

Ternera is still at large.

Maria Fernández de la Vega, government vice-president, told a press conference Friday the government had decided to pass this report to the inquiry because it could be relevant to the hearings.

The inquiry is trying to establish if the then conservative Popular Party government tried to manipulate public opinion after the bombings by claiming ETA carried out the attacks on 11 March, in which 191 people died.

Critics have claimed they tried to stop a backlash by voters at the general election on 14 March three days later because of the support the PP government gave to the US-led Iraq invasion.

Islamic terrorists targeted Spain principally because of its support for the invasion.

Some details would not be disclosed in the report for reasons of state security, said Fernández de la Vega.

But she said if inquiry members were not satisfied with the details disclosed in the report, the commission chairman, Paulino Rivero, could see the complete report.

She added that the government was committed to “to the principal of transparency with the only limitation being the security of our citizens”.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news