Backpack Bomb Kills Police Officer in Spain's Oviedo; Bomb Disposal Expert Seriously Injured, Suspect at Large
OVIEDO, Spain — A backpack containing an explosive device detonated while police were handling it in the Villafría neighborhood of Oviedo, capital of the northern Spanish region of Asturias, on Tuesday morning, November 10, killing Juan José Rodríguez, a sub-inspector with the National Police canine unit, and his three-year-old police dog Deny. A 53-year-old officer with the TEDAX bomb disposal unit was seriously injured and had a leg amputated. Spain's National Police said the suspect has been identified and remains at large, and that there is no indication so far that the attack was terrorism-related.
Police said officers were called shortly after 7 a.m. to reports of a neighborhood dispute in which shots were fired. A 17-year-old girl was wounded and taken to the Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (HUCA), where she is out of danger. At an apartment building on Rafael R. Urrustí Street, officers found a suspicious backpack with a flashing light in the entryway and called in the TEDAX bomb squad and the canine unit.
Specialists carried the backpack out of the building to protect residents, and the device exploded between about 8:40 and 8:50 a.m. local time. National Police spokesman Pedro Aguado said the injured officer is in critical but stable condition in hospital, and he corrected earlier reports that had wrongly said a second officer had died.
The suspect is a 64-year-old Spanish man, identified by the initials M. F. A., who has a record of common crime and is believed to have shot the girl and left the backpack bomb before fleeing, police said. Investigators have not ruled out that the device was set off by remote control or fitted with a timer. A major manhunt is under way, and police say the man may be armed. Spanish media reported that the suspect's wife has been detained.
Spanish government spokesperson Elma Saiz expressed the government's condolences for the fallen officer. The Oviedo city council decreed two days of official mourning, on November 10 and 11.
Source: Spanish National Police
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：西班牙 Oviedo 大教堂（资料图，javier.losa 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，Wikimedia Commons）。 / Photo: Oviedo Cathedral in Oviedo, Spain (file photo by javier.losa, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
