Iñaki Totorika Vega, 25, was killed when he and another officer were inspecting a suspicious vehicle that was blocking a road.
Vega, who was not married, was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a nearby hospital. The other officer’s injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Both officers responded to a call of street violence by ETA youth supporters in Hernani.
After arriving to the scene, police discovered a parked car blocking a road, and while waiting for a tow truck to haul it away, the car bomb exploded.
The vehicle used in the attack was stolen a day earlier on March 8 by two armed men claiming to be members of ETA, police told the media.
The owner of the car, a 58-year-old man, was discovered tied up and abandoned on a rural road about an hour after the attack.
This latest attack would be the fourth killing blamed on ETA so far this year and its 27th since ending a 14-month-long unilateral ceasefire in December 1999.
ETA, whose acronym stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom in the Basque language, has killed more than 800 people since taking up arms in 1968, primarily targeting security forces, politicians, and judiciary members.
ETA has been accused last week of stealing 1.6 tons of dynamite from a warehouse near Grenoble, France --a surefire indication that the separatist group is stockpiling weaponry and is not considering putting down its arms in the near future.
The latest killing set off a number of protests throughout Spain, but particularly in the Basque region, in the days following the car bomb attack.
Frank Griffiths may be reached at fgriffiths@suite101.com
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