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Ex-councilor shot dead in Basque town

A former councilor from Spain's ruling Socialist Party was shot and killed in the northern Basque region yesterday, the regional government said, two days before the country holds general elections.

Both main parties immediately announced an end to their election campaigning, as the government summoned all political parties to meet at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid.

The shooting comes two weeks after the government raised its terror alert level to maximum, fearing an attack by the armed Basque separatist group ETA to coincide with tomorrow's vote.

The former town councilor and member of Spain's ruling Socialist Party was fatally shot in the Basque town of Mondragon, a spokesman for the Basque interior ministry said.

"We have just confirmed that the person who died was a former Socialist councilor in the town of Mondragon," the spokesman said.

Witnesses quoted by the all-news channel CNN+ said he was shot several times in front of his wife and daughter outside his home.

A Basque police spokesman said the shooting occurred at around 1:40pm, but it was not known who carried out the attack.

Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba warned last month that ETA "may try to kill" before elections.
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