Photo Gallery Terror Attack on Mallorca
Fear strikes Mallorca: People attend to the wounded following an attack on police in the Palmanova beach resort area of the Spanish island on Thursday, July 30.
Investigators examine the police vehicle that exploded after a bomb was placed beneath it. Two police officers of the Civil Guard, aged 27 and 28, were in the vehicle when the bomb exploded. Both died.
The bomb injured several people, though none seriously. Cars and buildings in the surrounding area sustained damage as well.
Spain has been put on high alert following the attack. Police found a second bomb identical in construction soon after the first bomb went off. It was disposed of in a controlled detonation. Here, as tourists look on, smoke rises from the burning vehical that the first bomb destroyed.
The bomb exploded at the height of tourist season on Mallorca. It also went off a day before the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Basque terrorist group ETA, which later declared it was responsible for the attack.
The separatist group has killed more than 800 people since beginning its violent campaign to help the Basque region of northern Spain secure independence.
"I would like to condemn this new vile act, expressing the feelings of sorrow of all citizens," Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Thursday before leaving for the island.
The island is a preferred tourist destination for the British and, even more so, the Germans. Hotels and businesses fear that the attack might keep tourists away from the island.
Following the attack, authorities temporarily stopped flights from leaving the airport and ships from leaving harbors as part of their manhunt for the perpetrators.
