Madrid's tower was ETA target

MADRID, Spain -- The Basque separatist group ETA had planned to target Madrid's tallest building as part of a foiled 1999 "Christmas massacre" attack, police revealed on Thursday.

Police had thwarted the December 1999 attempt to blow up the Picasso Tower after discovering two vans packed with explosives, but it remained unclear what the target had been -- until this week.

Police questioning two suspects arrested in connection with a Madrid car bomb on Tuesday were told that ETA had planned to hit the skyscraper, national police chief Juan Cotino said.

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The interior minister at the time of the interception, Jaime Mayor Oreja, had said ETA had planned a "Christmas massacre" in Madrid.

The Picasso Tower is a 44-storey glass and steel building, home to 5,000 office workers, and located near a shopping centre.

It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the man behind New York's World Trade Center.

ETA suspect Ana Belen Egues, arrested in connection with Tuesday's bomb blast which injured 95 people, "admitted that it was planned for the vans to be placed at the Picasso Tower," Cotino said.

Police had stopped one van on December 20, 1999, heading for Madrid loaded with 1,980 pounds of a chlorine compound used in explosives and 110 pounds of dynamite.

The discovery led investigators three days later to a similar van abandoned in a hotel parking lot in northeastern Spain. It was packed with 1,650 pounds of explosives and a timer.

Despite investigations, police had been unable to find out what the target had been.

The police chief said the dynamite was probably stolen in France and smuggled into Spain.

ETA -- which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom -- has been blamed for the deaths of some 800 people since 1968 in its campaign for an independent Basque region.