The Basque separatist group Eta has claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack that killed two people in Madrid last week.
Eta made the claim in a statement sent to the pro-independence newspaper Gara, which often serves as a mouthpiece for Eta communiques, but it reasserted its commitment to a ceasefire declared in March.
Eta said it did not mean to cause casualties in the attack and accused the government of failing to evacuate the parking garage that was targeted at Madrid airport despite three warning calls pointing out where the car bomb was parked.
The airport was largely evacuated, but the two people killed happened to be asleep in parked cars.
Eta blamed the Spanish government and the ruling Socialist party for "placing obstacles endlessly in the democratic process," Garasaid in a summary of what it called a long Basque-language statement.
Eta insisted progress must come from a political agreement that includes "the minimum democratic rights owed to the Basque country," an apparent allusion to Basques' long-standing demands to be able to decide between independence and remaining part of Spain.
The explosion destroyed a five-story parking garage at Madrid airport, killing two Ecuadorean immigrants and injuring 26 people.
AP