2008 Getxo bombing

2008 Getxo bombing
Part of the Basque conflict
Ertzaintza officers in front of a damaged building
LocationGetxo, Biscay, Spain
Coordinates43°19′40″N 3°00′57″W / 43.3279°N 3.0158°W / 43.3279; -3.0158
Date19 May 2008
00:50 (UTC+1)
Attack type
van bomb
Deaths0
Injured0
PerpetratorsETA

A van bomb went off on 19 May 2008 outside a boat club in the town of Getxo, Biscay in the Basque Country, Spain. The attack caused serious damage to the club, as well as nearby buildings and structures. No one was killed or injured after a warning call from the Basque separatist organisation ETA. On 31 May, the organisation claimed responsibility for the bombing.[1]

Five days before the attack, another ETA car bomb in a Civil Guard barracks in Legutiano, Álava killed a Civil Guard member and injured four. Both attacks were blamed on the Biscay cell of ETA led by Arkaitz Goikoetxea Basabe, which was most active after the end of the 2006 ceasefire, and was responsible for several attacks in the region during 2007 and 2008. Most of the cell members, as well as the participants in the attack, were arrested in July 2008.[2]

The attack came hours before a meeting by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Basque lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe to discuss the Basque Conflict. On the same day of the attack, a memorial service for victims of terrorism was held in San Sebastián.[3]

  1. ^ "ETA: "PSOE y PNV no ofrecen más que un oscuro futuro lleno de límites"". gara.net (in Spanish). 31 May 2008. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  2. ^ "Nine ETA bombing suspects arrested". CNN. 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  3. ^ "Car bomb explodes in Spanish Basque area". gmanews.tv. 19 May 2008. Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2010.