Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his conservative challenger Mariano Rajoy on Friday agreed to suspend all rallies ahead of Sunday's parliamentary elections after suspected Basque separatists killed a local politician, sources of Rajoy's People's Party (PP) said, according to dpa. Former Socialist councillor Isaias Carrasco, 42, was shot three times in the back of the neck as he was leaving his home in the Basque town of Arrasate on the last election day. Socialist spokesman Diego Lopez Garrido said the militant Basque separatist group ETA could not prevent "the free expression of Spaniards" in the elections. "This is the moment to reiterate once more that terrorists will never twist the free will of Spaniards, which will be expressed next Sunday," he said. The shooting was witnessed by the wife and daughter of Carrasco, who died shortly afterwards at hospital. The killer was tall man with a fake beard, according to police sources. It was thought possible that two ETA members were involved in the attack. Unlike about 1,000 Basque politicians and other personalities, Carrasco, who had been a local councillor during the previous legislature, did not have a bodyguard. The attack occurred as Zapatero was finishing a speech at a rally in the southern city of Malaga. Zapatero immediately left for Madrid. The government had raised terrorism alert in view of a possible attack by ETA, which has staged two bomb blasts during the campaign. The blasts damaged a television mast and a Socialist party office, but caused no injuries. Basque terrorism has been one of the top campaign themes of the PP, with Rajoy slamming Zapatero's failed attempt to negotiate with ETA. The subject has been highly divisive, with the Socialists accusing the PP of politicizing it instead of backing the government in the fight against terrorism. After Carrasco's death, the Socialists sought a show of unity, announcing that all the parliamentary parties, trade unions and employers would issue a joint condemnation of the attack. Zapatero's six-month attempt at talks with ETA collapsed in December 2006 when the group violated its ceasefire with a car bombing that killed two people at Madrid airport. ETA subsequently declared an official end to the ceasefire after 14 months in June 2007. It shot dead two police officers in southern France in December 2007. Carrasco's death raised the death toll to five during Zapatero's term.
