1993 Madrid bombings

Terrorist incident in Spain 1993 Madrid bombing Madrid, Spain Army lorry 21 June 1993 0815 UTC+2 car bomb 7 29 ETA the Basque conflict The 1993 Madrid bombings were a coordinated attack of two car bombs by the armed Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) in Madrid, Spain on 21 June 1993, killing 7 people and injuring a further 29. The target was an army vehicle transporting members of the army, killing six military passengers and the civilian driver. This was the deadliest attack of 1993 attributed to ETA.21 June 1993 Two Madrid bombs kill seven https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/06/21/Two-Madrid-bombs-kill-seven/5048740635200/ United Press InternationalHart Robert Hayley Julia 21 June 1993 Rush-hour car bombs kill seven in Madrid https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/europe/rushhour-car-bombs-kill-seven-in-madrid-explosions-thought-to-be-eta-s-response-to-the-jailing-of-its-leaders-and-the-failure-of-its-political-wing-at-the-polls-1493097.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20250109145428/https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/europe/rushhour-car-bombs-kill-seven-in-madrid-explosions-thought-to-be-eta-s-response-to-the-jailing-of-its-leaders-and-the-failure-of-its-political-wing-at-the-polls-1493097.html 9 January 2025 The Independent Background Prior to these attacks, ETA carried out multiple, high-profile bombings, including the Plaza República Dominicana bombing in July 1986, which killed 12 members of the Spanish Civil Guard. Earlier attacks in Madrid included the February 1992 bombing that killed four military personnel among others.22 June 1993 2 Bombs Kill 7 in Madrid; Basques Are Suspected https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/22/world/2-bombs-kill-7-in-madrid-basques-are-suspected.html 9 January 2025 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331 The bombing occurred 15 days after the Spanish general election amid coalition government negotiations. The attacks were seen as a response to recent setbacks for ETA, including the poor electoral performance of its political wing, Herri Batasuna, and the imprisonment of key ETA leaders in France. The attacks The first and main attack took place at 8:15 a.m. on Joaquín Costa Street near Glorieta López de Hoyos. A parked car containing 40 kilograms of explosives detonated as an unmarked military van passed by, killing seven; four lieutenant colonels, a commander, a sergeant and the civilian driver of the vehicle. The explosion injured 22 others, including children, and caused significant structural damage to 14 buildings, displacing 90 families.21 June 1993 Car Bombs in Madrid Kill Seven https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/06/22/car-bombs-in-madrid-kill-seven/f8c139e8-e9ad-402d-9145-e351b48b80db/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20250109145814/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/06/22/car-bombs-in-madrid-kill-seven/f8c139e8-e9ad-402d-9145-e351b48b80db/ 9 January 2025 The Washington Post Associated Press An hour later, a second bomb exploded on Serrano Street, near the American and French embassies. The car, a red Ford, contained 4 to 5 kilograms of explosives and had been parked shortly before detonation. This blast injured three people, including children waiting for a school bus. Reactions The attack was condemned by all the main Spanish political parties and led to the King of Spain cancelling his participation in the Centre of Defense Studies.Masacre terrorista en Madrid, 22 June 1993, p11 In the Basque Country, a five-minute break in the working day in memory of the victims was organised.La masacre terrorista de Madrid, La Vanguardia, 23 June 1993, p11 The Spanish Ministry of the Interior blamed the attacks on ETA's Madrid commando, which had been reconstituted in 1991.Interior atribuye los atentados al comando Madrid de ETA, La Vanguardia, 22 June 1993, p14 Police sources identified María Soledad Iparraguirre, alias "Anboto" or "Marisol", as one of those involved in the attack. Anboto was arrested in France in October 2004'Eta leaders' arrested in France, BBC News, 3 October 2004, accessed 5 August 2012 and in December 2010 was sentenced to 20 years in prison.Francia condena a los ex dirigentes de ETA 'Mikel Antza' y 'Anboto' a 20 años de cárcel https://web.archive.org/web/20101228002742/http://www.cadenaser.com/espana/articulo/francia-condena-ex-dirigentes-eta-mikel-antza-anboto-anos-carcel/csrcsrpor/20101217csrcsrnac_9/Tes 2010-12-28 , Cadenaser, 17 December 2010, accessed 5 August 2010 Later investigation In 2013, on the eve of the expiration of the case's statute of limitations, journalist Pablo Romero – son of lieutenant colonel Juan Romero Alvárez, one of the victims of the 1993 attack – began a new investigation of the case after discovering a new clue while re-reading the eight tomes that made up the case file. The new clue led Spain's National Court to reopen its own investigation and summon convicted terrorist Jesús García Corporales as a formal suspect. Romero's investigation became the subject of a series of special reports published in El Español in 2013 in which he indicated that members of ETA's Madrid cell were directly responsible for the attack, and where he also highlighted how the Spanish State had neglected to do its part both in preventing the bombing and later pursuing guilty parties.http://reportajes.elespanol.com/mi-lucha-contra-eta/ Archived copy 2019-06-19 2019-06-28 https://web.archive.org/web/20190628041839/http://reportajes.elespanol.com/mi-lucha-contra-eta/ dead In 2018, Romero turned the story into a podcast,https://cuonda.com/las-tres-muertes-de-mi-padre Las Tres Muertes de Mi Padre cuonda.com My Father's Three Deaths, which received the 2018 Ondas Award,https://www.publico.es/actualidad/premios-ondas-2018-periodista-publico-pablo-romero-gana-premio-ondas-2018-podcast-tres-muertes-mi-padre.html El periodista de 'Público' Pablo Romero gana el Premio Ondas 2018 por su podcast 'Las tres muertes de mi padre' www.publico.es 2019-08-16 one of Spain's most prestigious journalism prizes. References Category:1990s in Madrid Category:1993 disasters in Spain Category:1993 murders in Spain Category:20th-century mass murders in Spain Category:Car and truck bombings in 1993 Category:Car and truck bombings in Spain Category:ETA (separatist group) actions Category:Improvised explosive device bombings in Madrid Category:June 1993 crimes Category:June 1993 in Spain Category:1993 mass murders Category:Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1993 Category:Terrorist incidents in Spain in the 1990s