Did you hear Spain: Bomb in Party Office in Basque Town?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/world/...

I did hear about it. Unfortunately, terrorism has been a major problem in the Basque Region of Spain over the past 4 decades. This region of Spain is quite distinct in terms of culture and language. In fact, Spanish isn't even widely spoken in the Basque Region. The Basques have their own language, and many of them associate with their regional identity instead of being Spanish. A small number of radicals occasionally cause bombings and other terrorist attacks in hopes that the Spanish govt. will allow them to secede.

yeah, i was there. thankfully, nobody got hurt because the ertxaina got everyone out on time. there were supposedly two bombs, but the second was taken care of. the town (Balmaseda) had a demonstration on Tuesday night against terrorism. it was the second time in the past couple of years that the town's had a bomb planted in it. This time, a lot of windows were broken and there was structural damage to some nearby apartments.

The Reuters report I read said no injuries.

What do they hope to accomplish? They've been at this as long as I can remember (and a bit longer, to be sure), but they (ETA) can't really believe they are drumming up any sympathy by setting bombs off every so often for 40 years. They have autonomy, they can and are using their language, have rid themselves of the oppressions of the Franco regime. What more do they want?


A question of my own: Are ETA as active as all that in France, as well? I Never hear of anything going on in France, or is that only because I studied Spanish in so much more detail? Anybody know how often their bombs actually hurt people? I remember a time when they were doing some kidnappings, but it seems like the bombs are always (thankfully) set in empty buildings. Or am I just deluded?