Spanish PM says Eta bombing 'act of futility'

The Spanish prime minister toured a scene of utter destruction from a car-bombing and today warned the Basque separatist group Eta it had acted futilely by detonating the blast, insisting his government and people would not be intimidated.

“It will achieve nothing. It is not going to intimidate anyone,” Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said of Eta after visiting the site of Saturday’s car bombing at Madrid airport, a blast that left one man dead, another missing and feared dead and Zapatero’s much-touted peace process for the Basque region in ruins.

Zapatero said the attack had made him more determined than ever to end Eta’s nearly four-decade campaign of violence aimed at achieving an independent Basque homeland, but he announced no new strategy or even a hint of what his next move would be.

He spoke to reporters for less than five minutes and took no questions.

Zapatero walked with firefighters and police investigators as he looked at the flattened remains of a five-storey car parking at Madrid international airport’s new Terminal 4.

The blast killed an Ecuadorian immigrant whose body was found in the rubble yesterday.

Rescuers are still looking for the other missing man, also Ecuadorian.