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Bomb shatters peace talks with Basque group in Spain

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 31, 2006

MADRID - A powerful car bomb exploded at Madrid's international airport Saturday and Spain's government, blaming the Basque group ETA, suspended plans for peace talks with the separatists.

The blast left two people missing and 26 injured, most with damage to their ears from the shock wave.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the government would halt talks with ETA over the bombing. The group had agreed to stop attacks in its cease-fire declaration earlier this year that was seen as the greatest hope in a decade of a peaceful end to the conflict.

"The condition for dialogue was and is the unequivocal desire to abandon violence," said Zapatero, who cut short a family holiday after the bombing. "The very grave attack today by the terrorist band ETA is radically contrary to that desire."

Zapatero had insisted as recently as Friday that he was optimistic the cease-fire would lead to a permanent peace.

ETA did not claim responsibility for the bombing, but a man who placed a warning call before the attack said he was a representative of the group. Following previous attacks, the group has sometimes waited weeks to claim responsibility.

ETA and its political supporters have been warning for months that the peace process was faltering. They have complained that the government has made no gesture to reciprocate its call for a cease-fire.

The attack early Saturday occurred inside a multistory parking garage at the airport.

More than 1,000 pounds of explosives had been packed inside the car used in the bombing, Spanish media reported.

Two Ecuadoran men were missing in the rubble, officials said.

[Last modified December 31, 2006, 00:31:18]