July 1979 Madrid bombings
July 1979 Madrid bombings | |
---|---|
Part of the Basque conflict | |
Location | Madrid, Spain |
Date | 29 July 1979 1301 (UTC+2) |
Attack type | bombs |
Deaths | 7 |
Injured | 100+ |
Perpetrators | ETA political-military |
The July 1979 Madrid bombings were a series of bomb attacks carried out by
The attacks
Barajas airport
The first bomb was placed on the ground floor of the airport, in the domestic arrivals section near an information desk.
Chamartín railway station
The bomb was placed in a locker near a waiting room. The explosion occurred at 13:10 and created panic, with many fleeing from the building towards exits, only to return a few minutes later when the realised that they had abandoned their luggage. Dorothea Fertig, a student from Germany, was decapitated as a result of the bomb.[1]
Atocha railway station
The most serious attack occurred at Atocha at 13:15 with 3 instantly killed and 40 wounded due to the structure of the lockers in which the bomb had been placed.[1]
The three attacks caused a total of 23 million pesetas worth of damage.[1]
Telephone warnings
There was confusion and controversy over the timings of telephone warnings made by ETA to the Euskadi Press organisation in the Basque Country and the forwarding of the warnings to the relevant agencies. Euskadi Press claimed that they had received the telephone warning about the three bombs at 12:00, an hour before the first explosion and had telephoned the police chief of San Sebastian two minutes later, with the latter promising to inform police in Madrid.
Reactions
The attacks were condemned by the Basque left, including parties regarded as close to ETA.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e La Vanguardia, 31 July 1979, p3-4, accessed 29 April 2012
- ^ a b "Edición del martes, 31 julio 1979, página 10 - Hemeroteca - Lavanguardia.es". hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com.
- El Pais, 31 July 1979
- El Pais, 1 August 1979, p10