ATTACK ON TOURISM
There was no warning call prior to the explosion
29.07.08 - 18:21 -
A camera man films the hole made by the bomb. / EFE
ETA made their reappearance on the Costa del Sol last night by planting an explosive device in Torremolinos. The small bomb went off soon after midnight on the beach next to a footbridge over a stream near the Aloha Puerto hotel. Sources from Torremolinos Town Hall reported last night that the device had caused no injuries, although a young man had to be treated for an anxiety attack.
The explosion was followed by moments of confusion as at first it was thought that a gas cylinder had exploded in one of the beach bars in the vicinity. However the investigation soon pointed to the fact that this had been part of the Basque terrorist group’s summer campaign in tourist resorts on the Spanish coastline, although there was no warning telephone call prior to the explosion.
Officers from Torremolinos Local Police force, along with the Mayor, Pedro Fernández Montes, soon arrived on the scene along with National Police officers and explosive experts from the Tedax Group, who cordoned off the area to investigate whether any more devices had been planted. Vehicles parked in the area were also inspected for extra security. While this inspection was taking place guests were unable to enter or leave the nearby hotel.
“We heard something like a big fire cracker going off under the bridge”, said Enrique Fernández, a tourist from Toledo who was on holiday in Torremolinos with his wife and baby daughter and who were walking in the area at the time of the explosion. They added that they did not really get nervous until they saw so many police officers arrive on the scene.
Tiscar Fernández and his family are also on holiday in Torremolinos from Montoro in Cordoba. “We don’t know what’s going on. Nobody has told us anything; we can’t go in the hotel and our children need to get some sleep”, he explained.
The family admitted however that they had been “lucky”. “We cross the bridge where the device went off every day”, said Fernández. “We always go out for an ice cream and tonight our daughter wanted a ride on the tourist train and so we have been longer than usual. Now we have come back to find everything cordoned off”.
Pedro Fernández Montes told SUR last night that the bomb had not been very powerful because there was a beach bar just ten metres away and its windows had not broken. “All they have wanted to do is cause alarm and attack tourism”, explained the Mayor of Torremolinos.
The attack has come just days after the State Security Forces arrested members of ETA’s Vizcaya cell. Documentation confiscated from the terrorists and statements made by the detainees revealed that the organisation planned an attack against commercial centres and hotels in Andalucía, as well as against a military museum and Guardia Civil headquarters in Burgos. Earlier this month they planted explosive devices on beaches on the Cantabria coast.
