1987 Zaragoza Barracks bombing

1987 Zaragoza barracks bombing
Part of the Basque conflict
Location of Zaragoza in Spain
Location	Zaragoza, Spain
Date	11 December 1987 06:10 (UTC+1)
Target	Guardia Civil
Attack type	Car bomb
Deaths	11
Non-fatal injuries	88
Perpetrators	ETA
No. of participants	4

The 1987 Zaragoza barracks bombing was a car bomb attack by the Basque separatist organisation ETA, which occurred on 11 December 1987. A vehicle containing 250 kilograms of ammonal was parked beside the main Guardia Civil barracks in the city of Zaragoza, Spain; its subsequent explosion caused the deaths of 11 people, including 5 children. A total of 88 people were injured, the majority of them civilians.

The attack came just six months after ETA had killed 21 people in a car bomb attack on a Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona.

Responsibility for the attack was placed on the Argala Commando Unit, an itinerant unit composed of French citizens who returned to France after committing attacks. Those involved in the attacks and those responsible for their planning were detained in a number of police operations during 1989 and 1992.

The attack occurred just six months after the Hipercor bombing in Barcelona had killed 21 people. Following the Barcelona bombing, ETA’s call for talks with the government of Felipe Gonzalez was rejected and, on 5 November 1987, the Pact of Madrid resulted in an agreement between the main Spanish political parties to release a joint statement rejecting the legitimacy of ETA to speak on behalf of the Basque people and ruling out negotiations until the group had formally disarmed. The Zaragoza attack was accordingly interpreted as ETA’s response to the Pact of Madrid and occurred while ETA was under the leadership of the Artapalo group. This leadership continued until 1992 and the era was marked by some of ETA’s deadliest attacks.

The Guardia Civil barracks, situated on Avenida de Cataluña, was a four-storey building without special protection. It housed 40 families of Guardia Civil members for a total of 180 people.

At 06:10 on 11 December, a Guardia Civil officer stationed at the entrance to the barracks noticed 2 men parking a Renault 18 in front of the building. When he approached them to inform them that they were not allowed to park vehicles in front of the building, they fled. Suspecting an imminent attack, the officer rushed back to the barracks to raise the alarm. The ETA militants escaped from the scene in another vehicle which they had parked nearby. Before the officer had had time to wake those sleeping, the 250 kg (551 lb) of ammonal exploded, making a huge hole in the wall and instantly demolishing all four floors. The blast also hit neighboring houses. Members of the Red Cross, security forces, and medical personnel quickly arrived at the scene. The building’s collapse forced them to clear debris in search of those trapped beneath. The large number of emergency vehicles at the scene led to the accidental death of a motorcyclist, who was hit by a military vehicle.