Editing ETA (separatist group) (section)

==Victims, tactics and attacks==
===Victims===
[[File: Txema Agirre Plaza placa.jpg|thumb|Flowers and a plate remember [[Ertzaina]] officer José "Txema" Agirre, shot dead by ETA gunmen in 1997 while protecting the [[Guggenheim Bilbao Museum]] (visible in the background)]]
[[File:Balmasedako auzitegia 2006.jpg|thumb|Repairs to the [[Balmaseda]] law courts after a bombing in 2006]]

ETA's targets expanded from military or police-related personnel and their families to a wider array, which included the following:{{Clarify|date=April 2009}}

* Fascist leaders, such as Prime Minister Admiral [[Luis Carrero Blanco]], Franco's successor was killed in a bombing on December 20, 1973.
* Spanish military and police personnel, active duty or retired.<ref>{{cite book|title=Terrorist Group Profiles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55BZmIJ9xd8C&pg=PA37|access-date=30 January 2011|date=1 August 1989|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-1-56806-864-0|pages=37–}}</ref> The barracks of the [[Guardia Civil (Spain)|Guardia Civil]] also provide housing for their families, thus, attacks on the barracks have also resulted in deaths of relatives, including children. As the regional police ([[Ertzaintza]] in the Basque Country and [[Mossos d'Esquadra]] in Catalonia) took a greater role in combating ETA, they were added to their list of targets.
* Businessmen (such as [[Javier Ybarra Bergé|Javier Ybarra]] and Ignacio Uria Mendizabal):<ref>[http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/ETA/asesina/empresario/nacionalista/elpepiesp/20081204elpepinac_2/Tes ETA asesina a un empresario Nacionalista · ELPAÍS.com]. Elpais.com. Retrieved on 30 January 2011.</ref> these are mainly targeted in order to [[extortion|extort]] them for the so-called "[[revolutionary tax]]". Refusal to pay has been punished with assassinations, kidnappings for ransom or bombings of their business.
* Prison officers such as [[José Antonio Ortega Lara]].
* Elected parliamentarians, city councillors and ex-councillors, politicians in general: most prominently [[Luis Carrero Blanco]] (killed in 1973). Dozens of politicians belonging to the [[People's Party (Spain)|People's Party]] (PP) and [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]] (PSOE) were assassinated or maimed. Some Basque nationalist politicians from the PNV party, such as [[Juan Mari Atutxa]], also received threats. Hundreds of politicians in Spain required a constant bodyguard service. Bodyguards are contingent victims as well. In 2005 ETA announced that it would no longer "target" elected politicians.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jun/20/spain.dalefuchs|work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Anger and doubts greet promise by Eta not to target Spanish politicians|first=Dale|last=Fuchs|date=20 June 2005|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> Nonetheless, ETA killed ex-council member [[Isaías Carrasco]] in [[Mondragón|Mondragon/Arrasate]] on 7 March 2008.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/08/spain?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews|work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Spain cancels election rallies after murder|first=Paul|last=Hamilos|date=8 March 2008|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref>
* Judges and prosecutors.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/963869.stm|work=BBC News  |title=Spanish prosecutor shot dead|date=9 October 2000|access-date=27 March 2010}}</ref> Particularly threatened were the members of the Spanish anti-terrorist court: the ''[[Audiencia Nacional (Spain)|Audiencia Nacional]]''.
* University professors who publicly expressed ideas that countered armed Basque separatism: such as [[Manuel Broseta]] or [[Francisco Tomás y Valiente]]. In the latter case, the shooting resulted in more than half a million people protesting against ETA.<ref>{{cite news |last=Simons |first=Marlise |date=18 July 1997 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E6DA1E38F93BA25754C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |title=Spain Turns on Rebels With Outrage |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=30 January 2011}}</ref>
* Journalists: some of these professionals began to be labelled by ETA as targets starting with the killing of journalist [[José Luis López de la Calle]], assassinated in May 2000.
* Economic targets: a wide array of private or public property considered valuable assets of Spain, especially railroads, tourist sites, industries, or malls.
* Exceptionally, ETA also assassinated former ETA members such as [[María Dolores Katarain]] as a reprisal for having left the group.<ref name = "hizrqw">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/701371.stm |work=BBC News |title=Spanish cinema breaks ETA taboo |date=4 April 2000 |access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref>
* A number of ETA attacks by car bomb caused random civilian casualties, like ETA's bloodiest attack, [[Hipercor bombing|the bombing in 1987]] of the subterranean parking lot of the Hipercor supermarket in Barcelona<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tkb.org/MorePatterns.jsp?countryCd=SP&year=1987|title=MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base|access-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805175550/http://www.tkb.org/MorePatterns.jsp?countryCd=SP&year=1987|archive-date=5 August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Ana María |last=Ortiz |url=http://www.elmundo.es/cronica/2002/347/1023693099.html |title=Jessica, la ultima victima de Hipercor |work=Crónica El Mundo |issue=347 |date=9 June 2002}}</ref> which killed 21 civilians and left 45 seriously wounded, of whom 20 were left disabled; also the attack of Plaza de Callao in Madrid.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/829838.stm |title=Madrid bomb injures eight |work=BBC News |date=12 July 2000}}</ref>

===Tactics===
ETA's tactics included:
* Direct attacks: killing by shooting the victim in the [[nape]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1350358.stm|work=BBC News  |title=European press review|date=25 May 2001|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/10/09/spain.eta/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061207071217/http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/10/09/spain.eta/index.html |work=CNN |title=Prosecutor dies after 'ETA-style' shooting |date=October 9, 2000 |archive-date=7 December 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jun/19/spain.nikkiknewstub|work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Eta to end attacks on elected politicians|first=Nikki|last=Knewstub|date=19 June 2005|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref>
* Bombings (often with [[car bomb]]s). When the bombs targeted individuals for assassination they were often surreptitiously rigged in the victim's car. The detonating systems varied. They were rarely manually ignited but instead, for example, wired so the bomb would explode on the ignition or when the car went over a set speed limit. Sometimes the bomb was placed inside a stolen car with false plates, parked along the route of the objective, and the explosive remotely activated when the target passed by (e.g. V.I.P. cars, police patrols or military vehicles).

These bombs sometimes killed family members of ETA's target victim and bystanders. When the bombs were large car-bombs seeking to produce large damage and terror, they were generally announced by one or more telephone calls made to newspapers speaking in the name of ETA. Charities (usually [[Detente Y Ayuda]]—DYA) were also used to announce the threat if the bomb was in a populated area. The type of explosives used in these attacks was initially [[Goma-2]] or self-produced [[ammonal]]. After several successful robberies in France, ETA began using [[Titadyne]].

* [[shell (projectile)|Shells]]: hand-made [[mortar (weapon)|mortars]] (the ''Jo ta ke'' model)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.larazon.es/9918/noticia/Espa%F1a/ETA_retoma_el_uso_de_las_granadas_%ABJotake%BB_para_atentar_contra_cuarteles |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080319095519/http://www.larazon.es/9918/noticia/Espa%F1a/ETA_retoma_el_uso_de_las_granadas_%ABJotake%BB_para_atentar_contra_cuarteles |archive-date=19 March 2008 |work=La Razón |title=ETA retoma el uso de las granadas 'Jotake' para atentar contra cuarteles |first=J. M. |last=Zuloaga |access-date=31 December 2007 }}</ref> were occasionally used to attack military or police bases. Their lack of precision was probably the reason their use was discontinued.
* Anonymous threats: often delivered in the Basque Country by placards or graffiti. Such threats forced many people into hiding or exile from the Basque Country and were used to prevent people from freely expressing political ideas other than Basque nationalist ones.
* [[Extortion]] or blackmail: called by ETA a "revolutionary tax", demanding money from a business owner in the Basque Country or elsewhere in Spain, under threats to him and his family, up to and including death threats. Occasionally, some French Basques were threatened in this manner, such as footballer [[Bixente Lizarazu]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/internationals/eta-tries-to-justify-tax-on-lizarazu-688316.html|work=The Independent |location=London |title=ETA tries to justify 'tax' on Lizarazu|date=21 March 2001|access-date=2 May 2010}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> ETA moved the extorted funds to accounts in Liechtenstein and other fiscal havens.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/bank-accounts-linked-to-eta-are-frozen-in-liechtenstein-802730.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080401172333/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/bank-accounts-linked-to-eta-are-frozen-in-liechtenstein-802730.html| archive-date=1 April 2008|work=The Independent |location=London |title=Bank accounts linked to Eta are frozen in Liechtenstein|first=Elizabeth|last=Nash|date=31 March 2008|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> According to French judiciary sources, as of 2008 ETA exacted an estimated €900,000 a year in this manner.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.elconfidencial.com/cache/2008/02/19/28_recauda_anualmente_900000_segun_policia_francesa.html |title=ETA recauda anualmente 900.000 €, según la Policía francesa |work=El Confidencial |date=19 February 2008 |access-date=30 January 2011}}</ref>
* Kidnapping: often as a punishment for failing to pay the blackmail known as "revolutionary tax", but was also used to try to force the government to free ETA prisoners under the threat of killing the kidnapped, as in the kidnapping and execution of [[Miguel Angel Blanco]]. ETA often hid the kidnapped in underground chambers without windows, called ''[[zulos]]'', of very reduced dimensions for extended periods.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.elpais.com/fotogaleria//9-1/ |title=El Culo de Aldaya y Delclaux – Los secuestros de ETA |work=El País |date=30 October 2002 |access-date=30 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E2DC1430F931A35754C0A961958260|work=The New York Times|title=Spanish Police Free 2 Kidnapped by the Basques|date=2 July 1997|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> Also, people robbed of their vehicles would usually be tied up and abandoned in an isolated place to allow those who carjacked them to escape.
* Robbery: ETA members also stole weapons, explosives, machines for registration plates and vehicles.

===Attacks===
{{Main|List of ETA attacks}}