Two Ecuadorians, Diego Armando Estacio and Carlos Alonso Palate, are missing and feared dead after a car bomb leveled part of a multistoried airport parking garage in Madrid. The bombing is being blamed on the Basque terrorist organization, ETA. However, the enormous size of the bomb — estimated to have contained somewhere between 1,100-1,800 pounds of explosives — raises additional questions.

Reported by the Associated Press:

Explosives experts with the Madrid regional government estimate the car bomb contained between 1,100 and 1,800 pounds of explosives, said Alfredo Prada, the vice president of that administration. The bomb was unusually large compared with past ETA attacks, which have sometimes involved less than 20 pounds of explosive.

ETA did not claim responsibility for the bombing, but a man who placed a warning call before the attack said he was a representative of the group. Following previous attacks, the group has sometimes waited weeks to claim responsibility.

Photo: Madrid Bombing

The International Herald Tribune reports on the bomb blast victims:

Firefighters and other crews worked through the night to remove tons of concrete and other rubble as they searched for Estacio and the other missing man, identified as Carlos Alonso Palate, 35, who was at the airport separately and was in another car. Both are from Ecuador but live in Spain.

In a somewhat complicated plot twist, Reuters reports that the vehicle used in the bombing, a van, belonged to a Spanish national who was car-jacked in southern France last week. Spanish officials say the man was held hostage until after the bomb blast.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said the Renault Traffic van used in the bombing had been stolen in southern France last Wednesday. Its owner, a Spanish man on a camping trip, had been held hostage for three days before being released in France an hour after the blast.

(Photo: Fernando Bustamante - Associated Press)

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