ANTI-TERRORIST POLICE have identified two men they believe detonated a powerful car bomb on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca on Thursday. They also issued photographs of four male and two female terrorist suspects who are thought to have crossed into Spain from France in recent weeks and possibly collaborated in the attack.
Two young civil guards, aged 27 and 28, died in the blast in the popular resort of Palma Nova-Calviá when restaurants and bars were busy with lunchtime diners. Many rushed to the scene and saw the burning Nissan Patrol 4x4 before police cordoned off the area and defused a bomb in a second vehicle.
Anti-terrorist police blame the Basque separatist organisation Eta, which has killed more than 800 people since its founding 50 years ago this week.
The attack came two days after a 200 kilo bomb destroyed a 12-floor building housing civil guards and their families in the northern city of Burgos.
Burgos was the home town of Carlos Sainz, one of the two men killed in Mallorca. His cousin – also a civil guard – was one of the 117 people, including children, who escaped with only minor injuries from the blazing building.
In an unusual show of solidarity, Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was accompanied by Mariano Rajoy, leader of the opposition on a flight to Palma de Mallorca. They drove to the Almudaina Palace to pay their respects to the two victims and Mr Zapatero pinned posthumous gold military medals on the coffins.
Six weeks ago, in a similar gesture, the two travelled to Bilbao together for the funeral of police officer Eduardo Puellas also killed when a limpet bomb exploded under his car.
Crown Prince Felipe, his wife Princess Letizia and sisters infantas Elena and Cristina represented King Juan Carlos – who is on an official visit to Madeira – at the funeral Mass in the packed Palma Cathedral.
The royal summer residence, the Marivent palace, is 8km from the bomb scene, and King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia are expected to begin their holidays there this weekend.
The attacks have been universally condemned by all sectors of society. Five minutes of silence were held outside town halls and official buildings across the country.
Patxi Lopez, the Basque lehendekari (president), who had flown to Mallorca for the funeral, joined local officials in Palma. He sent a message to the terrorists: “They can hurt us, but they can never achieve anything.” Antonio Basagoiti, the president of the Basque Popular Party, also in Mallorca for the funeral, was more outspoken. “They are not Basques. Basques are good people. They are nothing but shit.”
Palma airport, closed after the attack, reopened on Thursday evening in time for one of the busiest weekends of the year.
Security was very strict at both the airport and the ferry ports, particularly for departing passengers, where police tried to prevent the terrorists escaping under cover of departing passengers.