Police release photos of Spain's 6 most wanted terrorists

Friday, 31 July 2009 14:13 News - News analysis

ETA most wanted spain most wanted terrorist Police searching for two suspects who may be behind the car bomb that killed two police officers in Calvia (Mallorca) yesterday, have released photos of a number of suspected ETA terrorists who are believed to be behind a series of attacks across Spain.

Government delegate for Mallorca, Ramon Socías, has said that the security forces continued to believe that the ETA terrorists who had planted the bombs had not left Mallorca, but are in hiding on the island and are waiting for the situation to cool down a bit before attempting to leave the island.

ETA has been blamed for two separate attacks this week, the first a van bomb that destroyed a police barracks in Burgos, leaving 66 lightly injured, and yesterdays bomb underneath a police vehicle which killed the two young occupants of the vehicle.

Police have named as suspects Itziar Martínez Moreno, Iratxe Yáñez Ortiz de Barrón, Alberto Beraza Machain, Oroitz Gurruchaga Gogorza, Joanes Larretxea Mendiola and Iván Sáez de Jáuregui Ortigosa.

The only one of these terrorists who previously appeared among the most wanted by the Police is Oroitz Gurruchaga who was born in Rentería (Guipúzcoa) on July 8, 1981.

Spain continues to be on high alert for more terrorist attacks as the Mallorca bombings have made headlines across the world. Several people were injured by the powerful explosion on the busy road, which sent the vehicle flying through the air and set it on fire. Police later defused a second explosive device placed under another civil guard vehicle at a different base on Majorca, officials said.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack yet, but Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said it bore all the hallmarks of Eta.

"I want to condemn this new low blow with much rage and pain, but also with much determination," he said in a televised address. "The criminal attack comes at a time when the civil guards and national police, with the co-operation of French security forces, are striking against the terrorist group as never before," he added.