Blasts did not bear mark of Basque separatist group

THOSE with knowledge of ETA’s methods instinctively believed the Basque separatist group could not have organised yesterday’s bombings.

They further claimed that the rail attacks did not bear the hallmarks of previous ETA bombings.

The highest death toll to date was 21, when the Basque group planted a bomb in a Barcelona supermarket in 1987.

ETA often issues phone warnings but Spanish officials said none was received before yesterday’s explosions.

Arnold Otegi, the leader of the outlawed Basque party Batasuna, which is linked to ETA, suggested the attacks were the work of "Arab resistance".

Mr Otegi told Radio Popular: "The modus operandi, the high number of victims and the way it was carried out make me think, and I have a hypothesis in mind, that yes, it may have been an operative cell from the Arab resistance."

The founder of ETA agreed that the blasts did not carry the group’s mark. Julen de Madariaga, who created ETA in the 1950s and was once its leader, said it would be unlike the group to attack busy, working-class areas.

"It’s not ETA’s method of working," Madariaga said in the Basque city of San Sebastian.

Since leading ETA, which campaigns for independence for the ethnic Basques of northern Spain and southwest France, Madariaga has turned his back on violence although he has been active in pushing for a political solution to the Basque question.

However, the United States has claimed that ETA mem- bers have, at times, received training in Libya, Lebanon, and Nicaragua. Some ETA members allegedly have received sanctuary in Cuba while others are said to be in South America.