Terrorists strike

last updated 8 January 2015

Madrid

Basque separatists from the group ETA set off seven bombs in cities across Spain this week on Constitution Day, a national holiday. Most of the targets were located on streets or squares named after Spain, chosen to symbolize ETA’s desire to break the Basque region away from the rest of the country. The group followed its customary practice of giving the police warnings ahead of time, so the target areas were all evacuated and few people were injured. Still, “the attacks show that ETA retains operational capacity,” said Interior Minister Juan Antonio Alonso, “so we remain on maximum alert.”