Francoist, wife die in bizarre blast

Press, 27 January 1978, Page 5

Francoist, wife die in bizarre blast

NZPA-Reuter Barcelona

The Spanish police are hunting three young men and a young woman for killing the former Mayor of Barcelona, Joaquin Viola Sauret, and his wife in a bizarre bomb explosion. The death of Mr Viola, who was 64, a prominent

Francoist, was almost identical to that of a Barcelona industrialist, Jose Mariasbulto Margues, last May.

In both cases, three young men and a young woman overpowered their victims at gunpoint.

strapped a small sophisticated bomb to their chests, and demanded a ransom. Mr Bulto was killed when he tried to remove the bomb, while Mr Viola’s death was apparently caused by a mechanical fault in the device.

The police said the bomb exploded shortly after it was strapped on to him at his home. His wife was killed by the im-

pact of the blast. Four students . were arrested in July on suspicion of killing Mr

Bulto. They were set free late last year, despite Interior Ministry protests, under an amnesty for political prisoners. The four were members of a radical Left-wing group trying to set up a counterpart in Catalonia to the Basque separatist guerrilla organisation, E.T.A., the police said. The police have discounted a telephone call saying that a Maoist splinter group, the Spanish Communist Party (International), was responsible for killing Mr Viola.