Spanish police averted a possible massacre by intercepting a van carrying more than 500 kg (1,100 lb) of explosives today that Basque separatist guerrillas ETA planned to detonate in Madrid, the government said.
Two suspected ETA members were arrested in the early morning police operation, which came two weeks before a general election and 11 days after ETA declared a partial ceasefire limited to the northeastern region of Catalonia.
The men were driving two vans and heading for Madrid when they were stopped in the province of Cuenca, 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Madrid, officials said.
One of the vans contained the explosives which ETA planned to detonate in the Spanish capital "in the coming days", Interior Minister Mr Angel Acebes said, without giving a specific target.
It was one of the biggest bombs ETA had attempted to use in recent times, he told a news conference.
"The magnificent efficiency of the Civil Guard (police)... has avoided, without question, a massacre," Mr Acebes said.
The van contained 506 kg (1,116 lb) of chloratite explosive, 30 kg (66 lb) of dynamite and a timing device, Acebes said.
A bomb of that size could have caused a 35 metre (115 foot) crater, serious damage in a 100-metre (328 foot) radius and hurt people 1.5 km (one mile) away, he said.
