A car bomb ripped through a parking lot at a Spanish university on Thursday, injuring 17 people and sparking strong criticism of the Basque separatist group ETA, which was blamed for the attack.
Staff at the University of Navarra in Pamplona described how the initial blast at around 9am set off a series of smaller explosions as several other cars erupted in flames.
“There were other small explosions after the fire set off the fuel tanks in the parked cars nearby,” professor Bernardino Leon told the Antena 3 TV channel.
PHOTO: EPA
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, speaking in San Salvador where he is attending a summit, slammed the “terrorist attack and the blind, criminal and fanatical violence of ETA once again committed in my country.
King Juan Carlos echoed him, expressing his “strongest condemnation and revulsion in the face of this terrorist act.”
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told reporters that the casualties could have been much worse, but nobody had been that close to the bomb when it went off.
Rubalcaba said a man claiming to represent ETA had put in a warning call to the regional DYA traffic department — a common conduit used by the armed Basque separatist group to provide warning of their imminent attacks.
The man said a “white Peugeot” was going to explode at a nearby university without specifying which one, Rubalcaba said.
The blast comes two days after the arrest of four suspected ETA members, three of whom were picked up in Navarra.
Spain’s interior ministry said the group “were ready to carry an attack, probably in Navarra.”
The car used in Thursday’s attack was stolen on Wednesday evening in the town of Zumaya, Rubalcaba said.
A second professor at the university, Ramon Salaverria, described the intensity of the blast.
“I felt the whole building shake and I thought it was an earthquake. And then I saw a column of smoke about 30 to 40 meters high,” he said, according to the Web site of the 20 Minutos newspaper.
Some 400 people were evacuated from nearby buildings after the explosion, although the rest of the campus continued to function as normal, university director of communication Jesus Diaz said.
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
RSS