A car bomb exploded early Monday morning near the “Campo de las Naciones” in the Spanish capital of Madrid.
According to local police, shortly before the explosion authorities received a warning from the Basque separatist group known as the ETA who are now being blamed for the attack. El Pais reports that the ETA emitted four different phone calls warning of the attack; one to the Red Cross, another to local Firefighters, and two to SAMUR, a Spanish emergency response service.
In the Red Cross coordinating center an anonymous phone call was received at 7:37 a.m. announcing the location of the bomb. The caller limited himself to stating: “I’m calling on behalf of the ETA. We have placed a car bomb on the Ribera del Loira street next to the Ferrovial-Agromán building. It will explode at 9:00.”
The car bomb caused no injuries but shattered windows, damaged over a dozen cars and provoked structural damage to a nearby bridge.
The mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, arrived at the scene and proceeded to condemn the attacks. “ETA will not dictate the political agenda,” said Ruiz Gallardón. “We have to respond with serenity, with condemnation.”
The ETA has been blamed for over 800 deaths as well as various terrorist attacks in their 40 year campaign for the liberation of the Basque nation.
In fact this is not the first time that the “Campo de las Naciones” has been targeted. On the same date in 2005 another car bomb rocked the area, this time resulting in 43 injuries and much more collateral damage.
By: Alberto Ramos Cordero
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