Posted on 07/11/2007 6:39:30 PM PDT by blam
'Eta plot to bomb Plymouth ferry foiled'
By Edward Owen in Madrid
Last Updated: 2:17am BST 12/07/2007
Spanish police have foiled a plot by Eta terrorists to blow up a ferry carrying thousands of British tourists, officials said yesterday.
The Pont-Aven ferry carries up to 2,400 passengers and 183 crew between Plymouth and Santander
They said the Pont-Aven, which sails twice a week between Plymouth and the northern Spanish port of Santander, was one of three possible targets.
If the bomb had exploded at sea a major disaster could have occurred on the vessel which carries up to 2,400 passengers and 183 crew.
Since the end of an Eta ceasefire just over a month ago, Spanish officials have warned of "an imminent major attack" by the terrorist group which is demanding an independent Basque region encompassing parts of northern Spain and southern France.
Two Eta vehicle bombs have recently been intercepted on their way to Spain; one from Portugal and one from France.
A spokesman for the Spanish interior ministry said that the ferry plot was foiled when police arrested a young Eta terrorist at Santander bus station on Tuesday.
Aritz Arginzonic Zubiaurre, 22, was carrying a rucksack containing a Smith & Wesson pistol, a detonator usually used by Eta for car bombs and false identity documents.
He had been staying at a campsite 27 miles away with his girlfriend, Saioa Sánchez Iturregi. Among their camping gear police said they found details of targets in Santander: the ferry, a law court and a popular plaza.
Police said the couple were planning an "imminent attack" and had been waiting for the delivery of a car bomb when Arginzonic was detained. Sánchez escaped.
It would not be the first time that Eta has attempted an attack at sea. Several years ago the group planned to load a van bomb on to a ferry sailing from Valencia to the Balearic Islands, but the van broke down and the plot was abandoned.
A spokesman for Brittany Ferries, which operates the Pont-Aven, insisted there was no threat to the ferry.
However, Spanish authorities yesterday stepped up security checks including increased sniffer dog patrols at Santander port.
Aritz Arginzonic Zubiaurre
Eta has tried to disrupt tourism in Spain, the country's main industry, with bomb campaigns on popular resorts. Warnings were usually telephoned.
It is believed to have at least five itinerant commandos with 70 young members trained in camps in South America.
The Foreign Office advises British holidaymakers to be "vigilant".
Although Eta declared a ceasefire in March last year as a prelude to peace talks with the Spanish government, its members detonated a car bomb at Madrid airport last December that killed two men.
Since then, 11 Eta suspects have been arrested, mainly in France and three major bomb plots have been thwarted.
Eta, the acronym for Basque Homeland and Freedom, was founded in 1968 and has killed 819 people as part of its campaign for an independent Basque state.
During the past 11 years it has staged 469 attacks, killing 72 people, 45 of them civilians. Within the same period, almost 1,700 Eta suspects have been arrested and some 700 are in prison.
And E.T.A. stands for WHAT?
Well.. 
it could stand for the old Cockney saying 'ellary's tight a$$...
Euskadi Ta Askatasuna.
Basque is a weird language (apparently) unrelated to any others on earth, though there's a lot of vague speculation of links to some. It's a non-Indo-European language.
"Eta, the acronym for Basque Homeland and Freedom, was founded in 1968 and has killed 819 people as part of its campaign for an independent Basque state. "
And before anyone asks, no, they’re not Muslims, they’re currently not supported by the majority of Basques in Spain, and their philosophy is Marxist-Leninist.
A lot of similarity to the Irish Republican Army.
This would have been an unusally bloody attack for them. They usually set off small bombs and call and warn beforehand.
You are correct. Because I know that too, I wonder if there is more to this story. This is very out of character for them.
As Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's government was trying to decide what to do there were reports like this one:
It's likely ETA but "[t]here are however some disturbing Al-Qaeda calling cards. First, the scale of the violence suggests Al-Qaeda involvement– as opposed to ETA’s acting alone - as the domestic terrorist organization tends to target high-level Spanish officials rather than indulge in mass murder."
Prime Minister Aznar was a good guy at "the forefront of the war on terror in Europe and around the globe. Along with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has been a highly visible supporter of the U.S-led war on terror and American efforts in Iraq. . . ."
Why did he blame ETA?
The quoted article says what was mentioned above; to wit, ETA stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuma, or Fatherland and Liberty. The organization was formed in 1959.
Another newspaper, after it was clear that Al Qaeda did it -- and after the socialist candidate upset Aznar in the election -- reported:
"Mr Zapatero [José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero] accused Mr Aznar's conservative People's party government of having tried to fool Spaniards into believing the armed Basque group Eta, not radical Islamists, carried out the attacks. 'It was massive deceit,' he said."
Massive deceit and the question, why? In fact Zapatero claimed that all the government files had be deleted.
There was an ETA bombing recently at Madrid’s Barajas airport that killed two people.
Some years ago my wife and I took this ferry from Plymouth to Santander. As it approaches Spain it sails through the Bay of Biscay (not to be confused with the Bay of Biscayne, Florida) which is notoriously choppy. The stabilization of the ferry was amazing and the trip was remarkably smooth. The possibility of a bomb would have seemed absurd at that time - but the times have now gotten increasingly choppy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.