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### Viewing cable 04MADRID827, SPAIN'S 9-11: ETA MASSACRE IN MADRID THREE DAYS

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
04MADRID827 | 2004-03-11 13:01 | 2010-12-11 12:12 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Madrid

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000827

    SIPDIS

    FOR S/CT, DS/DSS/ITA, DS/ICI/PII, DS/IP/EUR, DS/DSS/IP,
    DS/DSS/OSAC

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2014
    TAGS: PTER PREL ASEC SP OSAC
    SUBJECT: SPAIN'S 9-11: ETA MASSACRE IN MADRID THREE DAYS
    BEFORE ELECTION, DEATH TOLL UPWARDS OF 173

    REF: (A) MADRID 679 (B) MADRID 712

    Classified By: A/DCM Carol Urban per 1.5 (b) and (d).

    ¶1. (SBU) ETA terrorists struck March 11 in the center of
    Madrid, placing bombs on four commuter trains. There were a
    total of 13 explosions (including three police-controlled
    explosions to disactivate bombs.) The bombs exploded in
    the middle of rush hour, from 0835 to 0855 local. Interior
    Minister Acebes confirmed that the GOS had "no doubt" that
    ETA was responsible. He also confirmed that there were no
    advisory calls before the bombs went off. The death toll
    continues to mount. According to Acebes and other official
    sources, the death toll was 173, with more than 600 wounded.
    FM Ana Palacio also commented to the press that ETA was
    responsible, as did Popular Party candidate for President of
    the Government, Mariano Rajoy.

    ¶2. (C) As noted in reftels, ETA experts in the Spanish
    police, as well as other Spanish officials, had expressed
    concern to us that ETA would seek to strike before the March
    14 general elections. Our contacts said ETA would seek to
    strike during the high profile election campaign to
    demonstrate that, despite suffering unprecedented arrests and
    disruption, it had not given up. In the past two months,
    police have had success in disrupting two major ETA attempted
    attacks. On February 29, two ETA operatives were arrested
    about 100 miles east of Madrid. One was driving a truck
    laden with 536 kg of explosives, destined for detonation in
    Madrid. On December 24 police stopped an attempt by two
    ETA operatives to place backpacks laden with explosives on a
    train going from Irun (Basque region) to a Madrid train
    station. Acebes said that this demonstrated ETA had been
    looking for a spectacular attack, with major civilian
    casualties. He added: "I will not accept the intolerable
    assertion by those who try to divert the culpability to other
    groups."

    ¶3. (SBU) As a result of these and other police operations,
    and the arrest of 126 ETA operatives and accomplices in Spain
    in 2003, ETA had not killed anyone in a terrorist attack
    since May 2003. The total of three ETA killings for 2003
    was the lowest figure in ETA's history (apart from brief
    periods of unilateral "cease-fire"). Prior to this attack,
    ETA's highest number of victims in a single attack was in
    Barcelona in 1987 when ETA exploded a bomb in a Hipercor
    shopping center, killing 21. (ETA claimed that it did not
    intend to kill so many civilians at Hipercor but that there
    had been a problem with the warning call.) Apart from
    this, several ETA attacks caused 10 or 12 fatalities, often
    against police targets. But ETA had more typically
    targeted its victims more discriminately, generally killing
    one or two at a time. The total number persons ETA had
    killed, before the March 11 Madrid attack, was about 850.

    ¶4. (C) This attack comes only three days before March 14
    general elections. Both major political parties have
    canceled campaign events, including major end of campaign
    rallies scheduled for March 12. A spokesman for ETA's
    political arm, the de-legalized party Batasuna, Arnaldo
    Otegi, claims that the attack could not have been by ETA
    since, he claimed, ETA phones in ahead of time. Otegi
    attributed the attack to Islamic extremists. President's
    Office contacts have called us to stress that the GOS is sure
    that the perpetrator is ETA, as Acebes has stated
    emphatically. They request that the USG support this in its
    declarations and not express any doubt in public comments
    about the party responsible.

    ¶5. (SBU) The Ambassador has called King Juan Carlos, FM
    Palacio, Madrid Region President Aguirre and President
    Aznar's Office to express our solidarity with Spain. FM
    Palacio made a point in her conversation with the Ambassador
    in objecting to media use of the term "Basque Separatists" to
    describe ETA. Now more than ever, she stressed, ETA must be
    called only by the name of "ETA Terrorists." The Ambassador
    will also write letters to Interior Minister Acebes, the
    Mayor of Madrid, and other senior officials.

    ¶6. (C) Comment: The magnitude of death and injuries caused
    by the attack is unprecedented in ETA's history and is, by
    far, the worst terrorist attack Spain has suffered. The
    fact that there was no warning call combined with massive
    civilian casualties represents a major departure in ETA's
    modus operandi. The two foiled attacks mentioned (para 2)
    above indicate that ETA was already changing its tactics in
    favor of indiscriminate attacks. As per reftels, an ETA
    under intense police and judicial pressure and lacking in
    technical skill for pinpointed attacks appears to have
    decided to lash out, not unlike a wounded animal, to cause
    maximum civilian harm. As far as the political campaign is
    concerned, Mariano Rajoy and the Popular Party, have made
    waging the war against ETA, without compromise or dialogue,
    central to their campaign. An ETA attack, even this
    enormous one, should thus not work against the governing
    party. However, if ETA's political wing (the de-legalized
    Batausna) is able to seed doubt about the perpetrator, some
    might blame the PP government for exposing Spain to Islamic
    extremist terrorism because of its Iraq policy. Hence the
    call to us from Moncloa for the USG to be clear in public
    comments that the perpetrator of this tragedy is ETA.
    ARGYROS

`