Cuenca, Spain
Spanish police intercepted a van packed with half a ton of explosives that they said Basque separatists planned to use in an attack on Madrid. The van’s driver, a member of the armed group ETA, said he intended to phone in a warning to the target, the office of a right-wing newspaper, so that nobody would be hurt. But Interior Minister Angel Acebes said the bomb was so big it could have killed anyone within a mile radius. “It would have caused a massacre,” he said. ETA has killed hundreds of people in terrorist attacks since the 1970s, but a wave of arrests over the last few years has reduced the group’s numbers to around 200 militants.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.