The Basque terrorist movement ETA chose two young Civil Guards as its latest targets. A powerful bomb placed under their jeep exploded as Irene Fernandez (32) and Jose Angel de Jesus (22) set out on their morning patrol shortly after 6 a.m. yesterday in a small Pyrennean village in the province of Huesca.
Ms Fernandez, who died instantly, is the first female Civil Guard to be killed by ETA in its 30-year history. Another woman guard escaped with serious injuries in San Sebastian earlier this year. Mr Angel de Jesus was reported to be conscious immediately after the explosion, but was dead on arrival at hospital.
Although 204 members of the para-military force have been murdered by the terrorists since 1968, Ms Fernandez and Mr Angel de Jesus are the first guardia fatalities since the end of the 14-month ceasefire in January.
The village of Sallent de Gallego, with 900 inhabitants, is only 7 km from the French border. Many believe the attackers set their bomb under the guards' Nissan Patrol vehicle during early yesterday, and were able to return to France possibly before it exploded. The same village was chosen as a target three years ago, when another bomb badly damaged the Civil Guard offices without causing injuries.
Officials have long suspected that ETA is using the frontier posts along the Pyrennees, where there is less security, to cross from French hideouts to carry out attacks in Spain. In recent months, ETA has operated in the Aragon region where yesterday's attack took place. Last week, a car packed with 100 kg of explosives was detonated by police after being abandoned by a young woman on the side of the road, not far from the site of yesterday's explosion.
Last December, two vans carrying nearly two tons of dynamite were discovered in the same area. In July, two men were arrested in Zaragoza and one of them has confessed to police that his instructions included the murder of the city's mayor and to plan the kidnap of an important person.
Sunday's attack - the 20th this year, bringing the death toll to 11 - came as security officials were celebrating a major coup against ETA in the Basque capital, Vitoria. The successful operation carried out over the weekend by the Ertzaintza, autonomous Basque police force, resulted in the detention of three suspected terrorists.
In addition, the autonomous Basque police force raided six apartments in the city and seized a large quantity of arms, bombmaking equipment, along with files and computer discs which are expected to give police valuable information on planned ETA actions.
The two men and one woman under detention are alleged to be members of the Araba Commando of ETA which is believed to have been responsible for the killing earlier this year of the Socialist politician, Mr Fernando Buesa, and his Ertzaina bodyguard, Mr Jorge Diez. The operation is still continuing and police do not discount further arrests over the next few days.
Some people have described the blow to the Araba Commando as the most important anti-ETA operation since the ending of the ceasefire. But cynics point out that security officers have boasted of the "destruction" of the same group no fewer than seven times over the past 20 years, and each time it has risen once again from the ashes.