The World : Gunmen Kill Spain Colonel

Suspected Basque separatists killed an artillery colonel at Villarreal in Spain’s northern Basque country, police said. Jose Maria Picatoste Gonzalez de Echevarria, 58, died when gunmen opened fire as he walked toward his car after leaving a restaurant. The attackers, suspected by police of being members of the Basque separatist organization ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom), fled in a car. The Defense Ministry in Madrid said the colonel was stationed at the artillery brigade headquarters in Burgos. He was a specialist in anti-aircraft artillery. His death brought to 36 the number of political assassinations in Spain so far this year, mainly in the Basque country.