Spanish PM pledges violence clampdown

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MADRID, Spain -- The Spanish prime minister is promising to press on with a government clampdown on violence despite three bombings which have claimed five lives in 24 hours.

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar interrupted his holiday to condemn the violence, attributed to Basque separatist group ETA, on national television.

"We must fight harder than ever," he said. "They can kill many but they will never be able to kill the liberty of the Basque country and Spain."

VIDEO Correspondent Al Goodman looks at the recent rash of car bombings in Spain Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     INTERACTIVE Timeline of the ETA campaign     ALSO ETA: One of Europe's most feared separatist groups     MESSAGE BOARD Terrorism in Spain

The latest bomb exploded in a residential area in Madrid on Tuesday evening, injuring at least 11 people, one seriously.

Casualties included two construction workers, a security guard and two children, city officials said.

Hours earlier in Zumaia, in the northern Basque region, a prominent Basque businessman was killed when he parked next to an explosives-packed vehicle that was detonated by remote control.

Jose Maria Korta, 52, was an outspoken critic of ETA who had recently urged dialogue between the government and the separatist group.

On Monday a car bomb exploded in the Basque city of Bilbao, killing four men suspected of being ETA members. Police say they were transporting explosives when their car blew up.

Spanish media, citing anti-terrorist sources, reported that one of the those killed was Patxi Rementeria, a man who police have long sought as an ETA operations leader.

Bomb victim Korta was a business leader in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa

The country is now on full security alert with fears that the attacks could mark the start of all-out bombing campaign.

The government says that ETA used the truce, which ended last year after talks failed, to reorganize and has now launched a full-fledged offensive.

There will be no new talks until the killing stops, the government has said.

Police said they had received a telephoned warning minutes before the Madrid explosion from a man who claimed to represent ETA.

The separatist group has killed nearly 800 people since 1968 and is blamed for eight deaths this year since the group announced the end of a 14-month cease fire.

Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja this week said he believed ETA's resurgence was aimed at pushing the government to declare a state of emergency in the Basque region to try to bring the conflict to a head.

"The murderers who are part of this terrorist band are not allowing the Spanish people to live in peace," said acting Madrid Mayor Mercedes de la Merced.

The guerrilla group ETA, an acronym that stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has been fighting since the late 1960s to carve an independent homeland out of Basque areas in northern Spain and southwest France.

The last outbreak of violence attributed to ETA was the bombing of a bank office on July 27 in the Basque capital of Vitoria. No one was hurt in that explosion.

ETA has now been blamed for 10 attacks since July 12, when a car bomb exploded in a downtown Madrid shopping area, injuring nine people.

The recent spate of violence included the assassination in July of a town councillor in the southern city of Malaga.

The center-right administration of Prime Minister Aznar has maintained a hard-line stance against the group, one of the last active, armed separatist groups in Western Europe.

It has also been at loggerheads with moderate Basque nationalists who condemn ETA but seek Basque self-determination.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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