The October 1978 Getxo attack was a mass shooting gun attack by the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

separatist organisation

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

which occurred on 22 October in the Basque town of

Getxo Getxo () is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has 77,946 inhabitants (2019). Getxo is mostly an affluent residential area, as well as being th ...

, a suburb of Bilbao. The attack occurred six weeks before a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

to approve a new

Spanish constitution The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the democratic law that is supreme in the Kingdom of Spain. It was ...

. The targets were a group of four civil guards who were returning from policing a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

game involving

Arenas Club de Getxo Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at Campo M ...

. After the game had finished, the civil guards were returning to their barracks, walking along Maximo Aguirre Street in the town.Otro criminal atentado en Bilbao
La Vanguardia, 24 October 1978, p13 Four ETA members, armed with machine guns and shotguns, who had been lying in wait behind the wall of the local

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

building, ambushed the civil guards, subjecting them to heavy gunfire before fleeing. Two of the civil guards were killed instantly, while the other two were seriously injured, with one of them dying in hospital four days later.La Vanguardia
27 October 1978, p18 The ETA members involved escaped in two cars, driven by a further two participants in the attack. The cars were later found abandoned in the

Deusto Deusto, also known as Deustu in Basque and formerly known as ''San Pedro de Deusto'', is one of the eight districts of Bilbao, (Spain). It is located on the right side of the Bilbao estuary, in the northwestern part of the city and bordering t ...

district of Bilbao. ETA claimed responsibility for the attack in a communique issued the following day. The funerals of those killed saw protests against ETA.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Getxo attack ETA (separatist group) actions Mass shootings in Spain Terrorist incidents in Spain 1978 murders in Spain Terrorist incidents in Spain in 1978 1978 mass shootings in Europe