SPAIN: Two members of the Guardia Civil were machine-gunned to death last night on a country road in northern Spain. Police are investigating whether the killing was the work of terrorists - either Basque or Islamic - or of members of a criminal gang.
The killing occurred shortly after 6.30 p.m. as the two guardias, both members of the traffic branch, overtook a Suzuki 4WD which had apparently committed a driving offence. As they drew alongside the vehicle its passengers opened fire with machine- guns, killing one guard instantly. The second died shortly afterwards. The assassins were seen driving off at high speed in the direction of Pamplona.
Although the guardias were based in La Rioja, the shooting took place just inside Navarra, a notorious ETA hotbed.
ETA committed its last murder just over a year ago, when two other civil guards were killed and a third seriously injured not far from yesterday's shooting, and authorities have warned for several weeks that they could attempt another attack to prove they were still active.
The Basque terrorist group has suffered serious setbacks over the past year, with more than 100 suspects arrested in France and Spain and raids on their hideouts yielded large quantities of arms, explosives and documents. ETA has killed more than 800 people in the past 30 years.
The news of the latest killing came as the Interior Minister was giving information on the detention of six men and women in connection with the March 11th train bombing in Madrid. The six - all Spanish - are alleged to have co-operated in the robbery from a mining complex of the dynamite used to blow up the four commuter trains killing 191 people and injuring more than 1,500.
Only 24 hours earlier Italian police arrested an Egyptian believed to be the brains behind the March 11th bombing, and Belgian police arrested another 15 Islamic militants.
A massive manhunt with roadblocks has been set up in Navarra and La Rioja, and police are not discounting any theory. Spanish radio is suggesting the attack was the work of organised crime, and named an Albanian-Kosovan gang as being responsible.