Slain Guardia buried with full honours

Wednesday, 01 September 2010 12:58

Written by Editor

Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was at the Torrejon air force base outside Madrid last Thursday to accompany the families of the two Guardia Civil and their interpreter as their remains arrived home.

The three men were killed in Afghanistan last week. The PM was accompanied by defence minister Carme Chacón and interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, opposition leader Mariano Rajoy and the chiefs of staff.

Sr Zapatero declared Thursday a day of official mourning for the deaths of the two Guardia, José María Galera and Leoncio Bravo as a “testimony of the pain felt by the Spanish nation”. and Princess Letizia attended their funeral the following day.

The three men were shot dead by an Afghan police recruit  in Badghis province, north-western Afghanistan. The assailant opened fire during a training session in a premeditated attack, according to Sr Rubalcaba.

Security forces returned fire and killed the police recruit. After the shooting, a crowd of angry locals violently protested outside a Spanish base in Qalay-i-Naw. Spain currently has 1,555 personnel deployed in Afghanistan.