ETA's 1991 Vic barracks bombing killed 10 people, including five children, highlighting the group's campaign to disrupt Spain ahead of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Key Facts
- Date
- 29 May 1991
- Explosive weight
- More than 200 kg kg
- Deaths
- 10, including five children
- Injured
- 44
- ETA members killed in follow-up raid
- 2
- ETA members arrested
- 5
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following Barcelona's selection as host of the 1992 Olympic Games, ETA launched a series of attacks in Catalonia to exploit international media attention. The group sought to publicize the Basque separatist cause on a global stage, having already carried out a bombing in Sabadell five months earlier that killed six police officers.
On 29 May 1991, ETA detonated a car bomb containing more than 200 kg of explosives inside the courtyard of a Civil Guard barracks in the Catalan city of Vic. The blast killed 10 people, among them five children, and injured 44 others in one of the deadliest ETA attacks of the period.
The day after the bombing, the Civil Guard raided a house in Lliçà d'Amunt, killing two members of the ETA cell responsible for the attack. Five additional ETA members were arrested in the operation, disrupting the cell and demonstrating a swift security response to the atrocity.