Incident Summary:
03/17/2001: Members of the Basque Fatherland and Freedom (ETA) organization detonated a car bomb in Rosas, Girona province, Spain. The ETA members called in a warning to police before detonating the bomb, but then detonated the explosive prior to the time provided to the authorities. One police officer, Santo Santamaria Avedano, was killed in the attack as he tried to keep pedestrians away from the scene, while another officer and at least two others were injured. Severe damage was done to the area.
Overview
GTD ID:
200103170005
When:
2001-03-17
Country:
Spain
Region:
Western Europe
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Catalonia
City:
Rosas
Location Details:
Near the Montecarlo Hotel in Rosas resort town in the region of Costa Brava, north of Barcelona, in Catalonia
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Police |
Name of Entity |
Officers called to the scene |
Specific Description |
Officer Santo Santamaria Avedano |
Nationality of Target |
Spain |
Target Type: Private Citizens & Property |
Name of Entity |
Private citizens and property in the vicinity of the blast |
Specific Description |
Private citizens and property near Montecarlo Hotel |
Nationality of Target |
Spain |
Target Type: Tourists |
Name of Entity |
Near the Montecarlo Hotel in Rosas resort town |
Specific Description |
Rosas resort town |
Nationality of Target |
Spain |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Yes |
Extent of Property Damage |
Unknown |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Explosives |
Vehicle |
Weapon Details |
The explosives were placed in a car stolen from Tarbes, France. Sources suggested that the explosives could have been dynamite stolen from an ETA raid in Grenoble, France, although no proof of this was provided. The bomb detonated seven minutes earlier than the time ETA provided to authorities. It was unspecified whether the bomb was remotely triggered. |
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 |
The officer was killed when shrapnel from the blast hit him as he tried to keep people away from the scene. Three people were injured, including another officer. Sources speculate that the bomb was detonated earlier than the time given to authorities so that maximum damage would be inflicted on first responders who were working to evacuate the Montecarlo Hotel, where at least 60 guests resided. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
Unknown |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 3 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
3 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
"ETA attacks Spain's resorts," BBC, March 18, 2001. |
Matt Spetalnick, "Spain car bomb found after blast kills policeman," Reuters, March 18, 2001. |
"ETA targets Spanish tourist resorts in latest killing," Agence France-Presse, March 18, 2001. |
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