Spain, terror over the holidays 12 injured in a double attack

MADRID – Two attacks shake the tourist heart of Spain. Two bombs explode almost simultaneously on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula in the height of a holiday season. The first in Alicante, the second in Benidorm. There are 12 wounded, one of them, a very serious foreign student.

It is the work of the Basque separatists of ETA. Shortly before the two explosions, a call to the Basque newspaper Gara announced, on behalf of the terrorist organization, the imminent double attack. The hotels were evacuated, but it failed to prevent anyone from being injured.

The first bomb destroyed the first floor of the Bahia hotel in Alicante and caused serious damage to a nearby building. The eight wounded were in this building and were hit by glass and concrete splinters. The most seriously injured is a 22-year-old foreign student. The hotel is located a hundred meters from the local headquarters of the Popular Party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

The second bomb exploded in front of the Nadal hotel in Benidorm, a two-star hotel by the beach. Four policemen were injured. The device was attached to a beam in a room on the first floor.

22 July 2003