1980s 1990s 2000s A car bomb attack was carried out on 19 June 1987 at the Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona, Spain, by the Basque separatist organisation ETA, which was classified as a terrorist group by the European Union and numerous nations.

The ETA attack which had caused the most fatalities had occurred in 1986 when a car bomb on República Dominicana Square in Madrid had killed 12 civil guards and injured 50 people.

[2] At approximately 16:12, a timer activated the bomb which exploded, destroying 20 vehicles parked nearby and causing a hole of around 5 metres in diameter in the ground floor of the shopping centre through which a huge ball of flame penetrated.

[9] The Spanish news agency said a man claiming to speak for ETA had told the Barcelona newspaper Avui 30 minutes before the blast at 16:15 that a bomb would go off in the store.

[10] While an ETA spokesman apologised for the attack, this apology was criticised, with the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia asking: "Does anyone who does not want to kill many people plant a bomb in a supermarket, at a peak hour on a Friday?

"[13] Following the arrest in 1993 of the bomber Simón, The Independent noted that "The attack was seen by many as a turning-point in the organisation's fortunes, its cold-blooded murder of women and children sickening many Basques who until then had sympathised with the group's aims.

"[14] On 9 September 1987, Domingo Troitiño and Josefa Ernaga were detained and on 23 October 1989 both were given sentences of 794 years in prison and fined more than 1,000 million pesetas.

[8] The Spanish Central Criminal Court ruled that they had acted in a premeditated manner and had spent a considerable time before the attack weighing up all the possible consequences.

[8] At the trial Troitiño and Ernaga attempted to justify their actions, stating that they had only intended to incinerate the stores, not cause deaths, although they were aware there were inhabited buildings at the back of Hipercor.

[15] Spanish police alleged that Caride Simón had been the former head of ETA's so-called "Barcelona Commando" and had planned the Hipercor attack.