Incident Summary:
09/10/2000: At 11:30 am, masked men detonated a bomb in the Txitxarro discotheque in Deba town, Basque Country, and kidnapped two people inside the discotheque doing maintenance work. A caller claiming to be from ETA told the Red Cross that the bomb at the disco would explode at 11:20 am. The two captives were tied up and tied to a tree by the road between Itziar town and Hendaye, France. A hunter found them about 90 minutes after the incident began, and were soon freed by the Ertzaintza (Basque Regional Police). On 09/22/2000, ETA claimed responsibility for a number of incidents, including this one. In their statement published in the Gara newspaper, the disco was targeted for dealing drugs. However, the Ertzainza believed that the real target was the disco owner, Narciso Korta, who was not at the disco at the time.
Overview
GTD ID:
200009100004
When:
2000-09-10
Country:
Spain
Region:
Western Europe
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Basque Country
City:
Deba
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
Type of Attack () |
Hostage Taking (Kidnapping) |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Business |
Name of Entity |
Unknown |
Specific Description |
Txitxarro Discotheque in Deba town, Basque Country |
Nationality of Target |
Spain |
Additional Information
Hostages |
Yes |
Number of Hostages |
2 |
US Hostages |
0 |
Hours of Kidnapping |
1 |
Outcome |
Hostage(s) released by perpetrators |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Unknown |
Extent of Property Damage |
Unknown |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Explosives |
Unknown Explosive Type |
Weapon Details |
Unknown explosives were used. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
ETA claimed responsibility for this incident on 09/22/2000, along with seven other attacks and an assassination dating back to 08/29/2000. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
Unknown |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
"Spain: ETA bomb explodes at discotheque, no known casualties," RNE Radio 1, September 10, . |
Adam Brown, "ETA claims August killing of Popular Party town councilor," The Associated Press, September 22, 2000. |
"Bomb Explodes in Spanish Disco," The Independent (London), September 11, 2000. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties