Expatica news

Three wounded by ETA bomb attack in Basque region

2 June 2008

BILBAO – ETA is stepping up its attacks on the high-speed AVE rail link being built in the Basque Country.

After blowing up two digging machines on 11 May, early Sunday morning a bomb went off at the Zarauz headquarters of Construcciones Amenábar, a firm working on the project, which also owns the equipment damaged in the May attack.

Three people were slightly injured by the explosion, two of them regional police officers sent to defuse the device following the terrorists’ warning call.

This is the first direct ETA attack on a company working on the AVE, and it comes hours after a protest in San Sebastián by groups who oppose the project.

It is thought that the terrorist group is trying to use this opposition to gain broader social support for its actions, as it did in the past with attacks on the Leitzaran highway.

Since January there have been 12 attacks against businesses and institutions with ties to the rail project, ranging from burnt vehicles to broken windows. An Interior Ministry report released in February said these actions are part of "an ETA strategy against the high-speed train project."

[dpa / Alberto Uriona / Expatica]