Rocío Capilla Franco

Description

On the morning of 11 December 1987, the Argala unit of ETA militar parked a car containing 250 kilograms ammonal at a side entrance to the Guardia Civil Barracks on Avenida Cataluña in Zaragoza. At 6.10 am, terrorist Henri Parot alighted from the stolen vehicle, activated the detonator by remote control and fled the scene.

The officers on duty in the security hut suspected that it was an attack. One of them chased after the ETA member, who got into a wating getaway car. The other went up to the apartments to warn an explosives expert but did not get there in time. The bomb exploded in the block, inhabited by some 40 families of civil guards and children of officers from other parts of Spain who were studying to enter the academy.

The building collapsed and the explosion left a hole measuring over 10 metres in the wall. The blast also damaged nearby homes. Eleven people, including six minors, were killed instantly and a further 88 were injured.

Rocío Capilla Franco (12) was one of the children killed. She attended the Don Bosco school, played on a handball team and went to jota dance classes. At the time of the attack, she was asleep in the barracks with her family. Her father, Emilio Capilla, and her mother, María Dolores Franco, were also killed in the explosion. Only their 9-year-old son, Emilio, survived.

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