![image: [ BBC Despatches ]](/olmedia/images/correspondent.jpg)
The car bomb exploded just before eight o'clock local time in the northern Basque town of Zarauz. The Popular Party councillor, Jose Ignacio Iruretagoyena, who was married with two children, died shortly afterwards from his injuries.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bore all the hallmarks of the work of the Basque separatist organisation, ETA. In a worrying development for the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, ETA has recently targetted local councillors belonging to his party in the Basque region.
ETA's last victim, killed in a gun attack by a masked ETA member in December, also belonged to the ruling Popular Party. This has led the Spanish government to recently step up security for its councillors in the region providing many of them with bodyguards.
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