DTN News: Spain ~ Car Bomb In Northern City Of Burgos Heavily Damages Police Barracks

DTN News: Spain ~ Car Bomb In Northern City Of Burgos Heavily Damages Police Barracks

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) MADRID, Spain - July 30, 2009: Spanish authorities say a powerful car bomb has heavily damaged a Civil Guard barracks in the northern city of Burgos, lightly injuring about 60 people. Investigators and emergency services work near a giant crater where a car bomb exploded at a Civil Guard barracks in the northern Spanish city of Burgos, early July 29, 2009. At least 46 people were slightly injured, according to emergency services. Part of the barracks facade collapsed into the street when the bomb went off around 4.30 a.m. (0230 GMT). A spokeswoman for the Civil Guard, Spain's paramilitary police force, said the attack was probably carried out by Basque separatist rebels ETA. Spain's Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubacalba blamed the Basque terrorist group ETA for the early-morning attack. The multistory barracks housed members of Spain's paramilitary police force and their families - 120 people, including 41 children. The minister said the perpetrators undoubtedly were trying to kill those inside. ETA has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s in its push for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.

Spanish Defense Ministry: Kosovo Pullout To Be Done In Stages

Spanish Defense Ministry: Kosovo Pullout To Be Done In Stages

(NSI News Source Info) MADRID - March 23, 2009: The withdrawal of Spanish troops from Kosovo, which has drawn U.S. criticism, will be done in a "staged" and "flexible" manner, the Spanish Defense Ministry said Sunday. Defense Minister Carme Chacon will meet North Atlantic Treaty Organization chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Brussels this week, the ministry said, to discuss Spain's pullout from the NATO-led force in Kosovo, a decision Chacon announced Thursday. Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon (C) reviews Spanish troops at "Base Espana" in Istok The U.S. said Friday it was "deeply disappointed and surprised" by the planned withdrawal. Spanish newspapers El Pais and El Mundo said Sunday that Spain has made concessions to the U.S. on the timing of the pullout, as well as on its involvement in Afghanistan. Bernardino Leon, the top aide to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, promised U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones that the Kosovo pullout would be done gradually and that Spain would boost its contingent in Afghanistan, the papers reported. Spain has thus far appeared reluctant to increase its military presence in Afghanistan, saying that sending more troops, as sought by Washington, "is not a solution" to resolving the country's problems. "The decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Kosovo, a territory whose independence Spain does not recognize, is firm and has been adopted by the government taking into account the operational necessities and the planning of our armed forces," the Defense Ministry statement said. "This process will take place in a staged and co-ordinated manner with our allies" and in a "flexible" way so that "the bulk of our troops are back within the time limit indicated by the ministry," it said. Unlike a number of European Union counterparts, Spain has declined to recognize Kosovo out of concern that it might set a precedent for separatists at home.