“Tourists are not targets” says the government

PALMA
THE Spanish Home Secretary, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, has categorically ruled out foreign tourists being targets for the Basque separatist group ETA which has let off five bombs, one fatal, here in Majorca over the past two weeks.

Rubalcaba said yesterday that the security forces are keeping all lines of investigation into the hunt for the bombers open.
The Home Secretary said that counter terrorist experts are still not ruling out that the bombers are still on the island, although six suspects are being sought across the country and in France. “Any and every theory is plausible, “ he said. “We've still got to confirm exactly when the bombs were planted,” he added.
There are a number of conflicting reports claiming that Sunday's four minor bombs were in fact planted before the Palmanova car bomb which killed two members of the Civil Guard when it exploded on July 30. Others suggest that Sunday's rucksack bombs were planted on Friday because bar Nica, the first Palma bar hit, is closed on weekends during the summer.

However, forensic experts in Madrid believe that evidence recovered from the scenes of the four weekend blasts in Palma and Portixol will prove conclusive.

In the meantime as the hunt for the bombers continues, Rubalcalba said that the whole country remains on “maximum alert”.