Terrorism in Spain


Terrorism in Spain has been committed by various groups and people.

History

There have been several phases of terrorism in Spain.
Spain was notably affected by a broader wave of anarchist terrorism that started in the late 19th century in Europe in connection to the notion of propaganda of the deed. Several of the perpetrators acting in Spain, such as Michele Angiolillo, Thioulouze, Tomás Ascheri or Girault, were actually foreign. Some of the terrorist attacks in this period include the 1893 Liceo bomb, the 1896 Corpus Christi bomb, or the magnicide of Cánovas del Castillo in 1897. The botched assassination in Madrid of King Alfonso XIII at the Calle Mayor during his wedding left 33 casualties and many wounded. Barcelona became infamous as fertile ground for bomb attacks in the early 20th century. Bomb attacks started to fade within anarchism at the turn of the first decade of the century, giving place to new forms of political violence at a time anarchosyndicalism became more disciplined and acquired more features of a mass movement along the decade, with the practice of pistolerismo appearing in the conflict between employers and trade unions. Magnicides in the early 20th century linked to anarcho-syndicalist terrorism such as individual assassination of two Prime Ministers, as well as the Archbishop of Zaragoza, Juan Soldevilla, in 1923, happened at a time of scalation of violence during the decadence of the Restoration regime.
From 1961-2011, the Basque separatist group ETA carried out more than 3300 attacks with total deaths estimated to be 829 to 952. During a similar period, far right terrorist groups were active, opposed to the Spanish transition to democracy. They caused from 66 to 95 deaths.
In recent years, Al-Qaeda and then Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have been responsible for significant attacks in the country. This includes the single deadliest peacetime incident, the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 192 people.

Deadliest attacks

The following is a list of terrorist incidents in Spain that resulted in at least ten deaths. It lists attacks on civilians by non-state actors that are widely referred to as terrorism. It excludes the periods of the Red and White Terrors during and after the Civil War.
; Key: Group
DateIncidentCasualtiesPerpetrator
Gran Teatre del Liceu bombing20+ killed, 40+ injuredSantiago Salvador Franch
Barcelona Corpus Christi procession bombing12 killed, 44 injuredAnarchists
Botched assassination of Alfonso XIII30 killed, 100 injuredMateo Morral Rocca
Cafetería Rolando bombing13 killed, 71 injuredETA
Hotel Corona de Aragón fire80+ killedETA
El Descanso bombing18 killed, 82 injuredMustafa Setmariam
Plaza República Dominicana bombing12 killed, 32 injuredETA
Hipercor bombing21 killed, 45 injuredETA
Zaragoza barracks bombing11 killed, 88 injuredETA
Vic bombing10 killed, 44 injuredETA
Madrid train bombings192 killed, 2,050 injuredAl-Qaeda
17–18 Aug 20172017 Barcelona attacks24 killed, 152 injuredIslamic State