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26 Injured at an Explosion near Madrid International Airport

Has the ceasefire with ETA, the Basque separatist movement, ended? A car bomb exploded Saturday morning in the parking lot of the Barajas Airport in Madrid, the Spanish capitol. 26 individuals, two of whom were policemen, were lightly injured and mild damage was caused in the area. Radio stations throughout the country said that ETA took responsibility for the bombing, after the police received an anonymous phone call warning of the imminent explosion. The airport was closed to air traffic. One passenger told reporters: "I was just getting my ticket when suddenly there was a pretty big explosion and it filled the whole hall with smoke, with a strong burning smell. Then the security people came, and the Civil Guard, and told us we had to evacuate."

The bombing took place even though ETA announced a ceasefire in March, after 4 decades of armed resistance in Basque region, a violent conflict claiming the lives of over 800 people. The Spanish capitol has suffered many bombings, in the hands of ETA, in the past. In February 2005 a car bomb exploded near a convention center in Madrid, injuring 43 people. The Spanish police reported that prior to the explosion a telephone call from a member of ETA was made to a local newspaper. The speaker announced that a bomb will go off at the convention center.

Two months later, 18 people were mildly heart, when a car bomb exploded in northern Madrid. This bombing took place just a few days after the Spanish government took steps to begin negotiations with the Basque separatists.