Spaniards mourn shot councillor

A minute's silence was held in the city of San Sebastian

People in Spain have been mourning a former Socialist councillor who was shot dead outside his home in the Basque Country on Friday.

A wake has been held at the town hall of Mondragon, where he was killed, and his funeral is due to take place later on Saturday.

On Friday, Spain's PM accused Basque separatist group Eta of trying to upset Sunday's general poll with the murder.

No group has so far said it carried out the attack.

In other Basque cities, like Bilbao and San Sebastian, thousands of people gathered outside town halls and fell silent to remember Mr Carrasco and condemn Eta.

Out of respect, Spain's political parties called off the remainder of their rallies on Friday ahead of the official end of the campaign at midnight on that day.

In Spain, rallies are banned the day before an election itself.

Shot outside his home

Mr Carrasco, who was a Socialist candidate in municipal elections in 2007, was shot at least three times in the back of the neck, head and chest as he left his home.

Eta, which ended a 15-month ceasefire in June 2007 after failed peace talks, has carried out similar attacks before.

Isaias Carrasco was shot in the back of the neck, head and chest

Mr Carrasco's daughter Sandra told reporters he died defending freedom.

"Those who want to show solidarity with my father and our pain should turn out in massive numbers to vote on Sunday to say to the murderers 'We are not going to take one step backwards'," she said in Mondragon's packed town square.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who is seeking to win a second term in office, broke off peace talks with Eta in December 2006, after two people died in a bombing by the group at the Madrid airport car park.

Four years ago, the Socialists benefited from a late surge in support in the wake of the Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people. That attack, which was initially blamed on Eta, was in fact the work of Islamist extremists.