ETA blamed for ex-minister's assassination

BARCELONA, Spain -- Basque separatist group ETA has been blamed by Spanish authorities for the assassination of the country's former health minister.

Ernest Lluch died after being shot twice in the head by gunmen who ambushed him at the basement car park in the building where he lived, the national news agency Efe said.

The Tuesday night shooting in Barcelona came two hours after a car-bomb blast, also blamed on ETA, shook a residential area on the city's outskirts.

The car may have been by used the assailants prior to the attack and could have been blown up to destroy evidence, state radio said. No one was injured in the explosion, which took place in an undeveloped area just outside the city.

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CNN's Al Goodman said there was no immediate claim of responsibility but authorities said the violence appeared to be the work of the Basque rebels, who have been fighting for a Basque independent state since 1968.

Goodman said Spanish newspapers were reporting the blast had been deliberately timed to mar the 25th anniversary of King Juan Carlos' swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday.

Five years ago Basque separatists tried to kill the Spanish king who took over as head of state from General Franco.

VIDEO CNN's Al Goodman reports by phone on the murder of Ernest Lluch, whose death has been attributed to the Basque independence group, ETA Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Lluch, 63, had served as health minister from 1982 to 1986 under former Socialist Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez.

Leaders of the Socialist party in Madrid were to hold an emergency meeting following the incident, the private news agency Europa Press said.

Socialist party deputy and friend of Lluch, Ramon Jauregui, told reporters that in killing Lluch, ETA had assassinated "one of the first to unite democratic Basque nationalists against ETA."

ETA has claimed 20 killings, including politicians, police and journalists, so far this year and some 800 since it began fighting for a Basque independent state in 1968.

On Tuesday morning, two grenades were thrown at a police station in the Basque town of Irun. There were no serious injuries or damages.

Blaming ETA for the attack, Carlos Iturgaiz, head of the Basque branch of the ruling Popular Party, said the group had "failed in its attempt to cause death and destruction."

After the attackers fled, police found a booby-trap explosive in a car near the police station. The vehicle also contained several grenade-launching tubes, a grenade and timers. Police carried out controlled explosion of the car later on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, 10 policemen were injured when a booby-trapped cache of grenade launchers exploded near a police station in San Sebastian, near Irun.

ETA called off a 14-month ceasefire last December, claiming the peace process was making no progress in bringing about an independent Basque state.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

Eleven police injured in 'ETA-style' attack
November 11, 2000
Suspected ETA members arrested
November 7, 2000
ETA blamed for Barcelona car bomb
November 2, 2000

Spanish Government
The Basque Region of Spain
The Association for Peace in the Basque Country
PNV Basque Nationalist party, the governing party in the Basque Country
EA Basque Nationalist party

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