Violence in the Basque Country claimed a new victim yesterday with the killing of Mr Froilan Elezpe, the deputy mayor of Lasarte, 8 km south of San Sebastian.
Mr Elezpe (54), a member of the Basque Socialist Party (PSE), had been a councillor in Lasarte for 20 years and chose not to use a bodyguard.
Witnesses said two gunmen came into a local bar where Mr Elezpe was having a lunchtime aperitif with his son and a group of friends. They fired at point blank range, at least twice to the head, and Mr Elezpe died almost immediately. Police removed 9 mm parabellum cartridges from the scene, the ammunition most commonly used by ETA gunmen.
The latest shooting comes only two days after an ETA car bomb killed a Catalan police officer in the Costa Brava resort of Rosas and a second bomb in Gandia, on the Costa Blanca, caused considerable damage to property.
Security experts believe the explosives used in the bombings were part of a haul of 1,600 kilos of dynamite stolen from a mining complex near Grenoble in France two weeks ago.
The new wave of violence marks the start of what threatens to be a bloody campaign leading up to regional elections on May 13th. An opinion poll published yesterday indicated that the combined vote for the Popular Party and the PSE - both constitutional parties - could leave them only two seats off an overall majority in the 75-seat parliament.