[1] The statement was regarded by some as intended to put pressure on the talks with the Spanish government, while others saw it as a declaration of ETA's ultimate intentions, making it clear that they would not disarm until every one of their goals had been completely achieved.

[1] On 24 October, a commando unit formed by at least five members of ETA stole around 300 revolvers and 50 pistols, as well as ammunition, from an arms warehouse in Vauvert, France, and on 4 November, the Basque newspaper Gara released an ETA private document in which it warned the Spanish government that the "peace process" was "in crisis".

[6] The Madrid–Barajas airport had also been the location of ETA attacks on 29 July 1979, when three civilians were killed, and on 27 August 2002, when a car bomb exploded on the second floor of the Terminal 2 parking, causing only material damage, after a warning call from the armed organisation.

[7] In two meetings held at the Baztan valley in Navarre in the summer of 2006, Txeroki, then head of commandos, ordered fellow ETA members Mattin Sarasola, Igor Portu and Mikel San Sebastián to carry out the bombing.

[8] The three members had been born in the Navarrese town of Lesaka[8] and were part of the "commando Elurra" (Basque: snow), previously known as "Goiztiarrak", formed in 2002.

[10] During the first meeting, Txeroki gave instructions on how to carry out the attack and told the members of the commando which secondary roads they should take to arrive to the airport and avoid being caught by security forces.

The first rehearsal was made with San Sebastián's personal car and the second one, on 21 October, with a Volkswagen Polo rented in Irun, Gipuzkoa.

[10] On 27 December, Portu, Sarasola and San Sebastián stole a Renault Trafic at gunpoint in the French town of Luz Ardiden and held its owner for three days in a cabin located in the Pyrenees.

Commando leader Joseba Aranibar loaded the van with explosives, while Sarasola and San Sebastián spent the night at the cabin.

[8] At 07:53 am, Igor Portu used a mobile phone to call the DYA headquarters to warn them that a "powerful van bomb" would explode at 09:00.

Three minutes later he called the firemen of Madrid, between 07:52 and 07:59 he phoned Gara and finally the SOS/DEIAK emergency number of San Sebastián, this time from a telephone box.

[13] Police immediately cordoned off the car park, with hundreds of people being evacuated from the terminal through jetways and gathered outside on the airport ramps.

[14] At 08:59 the Renault Trafic went off, destroying much of section D of the parking lot of the airport's newly built Terminal 4 and sending a massive column of smoke into the air.

[16] As a result of the explosion, two Ecuadorian citizens, Carlos Alonso Palate and Diego Armando Estacio, who were taking a nap inside their cars and did not manage to evacuate died.

[26] Minister of the Interior Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba condemned the attack and stated that "violence is incompatible with dialogue in any democracy"[27] while Rodríguez Zapatero ordered the government to put all peace talks with ETA "on hold" and condemned the "useless and ridiculous step" that the organization had taken,[27] although he did not announce the end of the peace process.

[27] Spokesman for Batasuna Arnaldo Otegi refused to condemn the attack and denied that the process was damaged and considered it "just another event" of all the ones that were "blocking" the process, and accused the government of not "making any steps", referring to the situation of ETA prisoner Iñaki de Juana Chaos, who was then on a hunger strike.

[27] On the following day of the attack, hundreds of members of the Association of Terrorism Victims staged a protest outside the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party headquarters in Madrid, shouting slogans demanding Rodriguez Zapatero's resignation.

Earlier, the association president Francisco José Alcaraz asked the government to expel the Communist Party of the Basque Homelands from all regional institutions in case they did not condemn the attack.

On 9 January 2007, in a statement sent to Gara, ETA claimed responsibility for the attack and insisted that the March ceasefire was still in place despite the bombing.

[30] On 6 January, a demonstration in San Sebastian in favour of ETA prisoners and in support of a democratic solution to the process ended up in riots.

Then-Ecuadorian Minister for Foreign Affairs María Fernanda Espinosa participated in the event, along with then-Spanish secretary for Ibero-America Trinidad Jiménez.

On 7 January, Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola were arrested by the Civil Guard on a road close to Arrasate, Gipuzkoa.

[38] The Ministry of Interior denied the claims of torture and attributed the injuries to the moment the terrorists resisted arrest and attempted to escape.

[39] On February 16, Joseba Iturbide and Mikel San Sebastian were arrested in the French town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques along with fellow ETA members Jose Antonio Martinez Mur and Asuncion Bengoechea.

[41] On 3 May 2010, Portu, Sarasola and San Sebastián appeared at the Spanish National High Court in Madrid for their role in the attack.