AFP
Madrid
A man rammed a car loaded with gas cylinders into the Madrid headquarters of Spain’s conservative ruling party yesterday, police said.
The canisters did not explode and there were no injuries, a police spokeswoman told AFP. Some reports and officials said the car also contained explosives.
Details of the suspect’s possible motives remained unclear yesterday.
Police initially said he was thought to be a ruined businessman, but other officials later said he was a mentally ill, jobless 37-year-old from the eastern Teruel region.
Photographs from inside the building showed the dark blue four-door car covered in wreckage after coming to a halt in the lobby.
“A man rammed his own car into the front of the Popular Party headquarters in Calle Genova in Madrid,” a police spokeswoman said.
“Inside the car there were two canisters of butane and a substance that we have yet to analyse,” added another spokeswoman.
She would not confirm media reports that the car contained industrial fertiliser.
Officers arrested the suspect at the scene of the crash which occurred before dawn about 7am (0600 GMT).
Police cordoned off a large area around the party building in central Madrid, causing traffic jams and blocking people from getting to work.
“There was a cordon and police told me I couldn’t pass because there had been some kind of attack,” said Giuseppe Di Bella, a 28-year-old lawyer who works opposite the party building. “They said there was a car carrying gas cylinders. It’s a bit much for a Friday morning.”
Several metro stations were closed and services on several lines were suspended for several hours before resuming normal service, police said.
The deputy leader of the party, Maria Dolores Cospedal, said that “the possibility of a terrorist attack has been ruled out”.
“We wish to send a message of calm and thank the police for their quick and efficient response,” Cospedal said in a statement.