FUNDACIÓN VÍCTIMAS DEL TERRORISMO 93 - ENGLISH

27 S pain has been the scene of the main variants of Islamist terror- ism since the mid-1980s. Specif- ically, it was on 12 April 1985 when the first Islamist terrorist attack took place in Spain, against the El Descanso restaurant (Barajas district, Madrid), where eighteen people were killed and more than eighty were injured. Among the victims was María Remedios Tomás Escudero, 42, a native of Utiel (Valen- cia) and a shopkeeper in Madrid. She was the first Valencian victim killed by jihad. This year marks the 40th anni- versary of that attack. In total, according to the book Las víctimas de la yihad (The Victims of Jihad), published by Espa-sa, togeth- er with the Memorial Centre for Vic- tims of Terrorism Foundation and the Victims of Terrorism Foundation, 300 people have lost their lives as a result of jihadist attacks committed in our country or against Spaniards abroad. Of these, 223 were Spanish nationals, three of whom were born in the Valen- cian Community. They are: MARÍA REMEDIOS TOMÁS ESCU- DERO, born on 3 January 1941 in Utiel (Valencia), was killed on 12 April 1985 in the attack on the El Descanso restau- rant (Barajas district, Madrid). Her parents settled in Madrid's La Con- cepción neighbourhood when she was a child. She was an only child and ran a rocking chair shop. Among her friends were her neigh- bours, Isabel Rodríguez and Ángeles España, with whom she spent that Fri- day evening, which none of the three would survive. María Remedios was buried in her na- tive Valencia. She was 42 years old. VALENCIAN VICTIMS OF JIHAD Islamist terrorist attack against the El Descanso restaurant (12 April 1985). Among the 18 dead was María Remedios Tomás Escudero, a native of Utiel (Valencia). She was the first Valencian victim killed by jihad. On the morning of 29 November 2003, four agents were instructing others four officers who would relieve them. They had been working in Baghdad, so the new officers could familiarise them- selves with the area, and after lunch, at around 2.30 p.m., they set off on their way back to Najaf, where they were stationed. The two cities are connect- ed by a motorway, but at that time it was closed, so the eight agents took the well-known Jackson Route, an old road that passes through several towns. They had travelled about 30 kilometres when they were ambushed, resulting in the deaths of seven of the CNI agents, including Luis Ignacio Zanón Tarazona, born in Quart de Poblet (Valencia). The only survivor was agent José Manuel Sánchez Riera, currently president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism of the Valencian Community. Luis Ignacio Zanón, an Air Force spe- cialist in radiotelegraphy, had joined the CNI in 1994 and had experience participating in missions in Macedonia and Kosovo, for which he had received the NATO Medal. He was married and had two daugh- ters, although he never got to meet his second daughter because she was born while he was serving in Iraq. Source: Victims of jihad. Spaniards killed in terrorist attacks PABLO USÁN SAN AMBROSIO , a native of Valencia, was killed on 26 August 1994 in a jihadist attack in Up- per Egypt. a native of Valencia, was killed on 26 August 1994 in a jihadist attack in Up- per Egypt. That morning, a group of 11 Spanish tourists, accompanied by a local guide, left the boat on which they were cruis- ing the Nile to take an excursion to the temple of Dendera, near Qena. Four terrorists from the Islamic Group fired on the minibus in which the tourists were travelling on the road between Dendera and Abydos. One of them, nine-year-old Pablo Usán, died instantly; his parents, Leopoldo Usán and Inmaculada San Ambrosio, were injured, as were two other tourists and the Egyptian guide. The attack was claimed by the Gamaa Islamiya group, which attributed the attack as part of a new offensive, while warning foreigners not to travel to Egypt "so as not to endanger their lives". The body of little Pablo, along with his sister Angela, who was unharmed, and his parents, was repatriated to Spain. The parents had to be admitted to the Peset Aleixandre Hospital in Valencia, so they were unable to attend their son's funeral. LUIS IGNACIO ZANÓN TARAZO- NA, a native of Quart de Poblet (Va- lencia), he was killed on 29 November 2003 in a jihadist attack in Iraq. In July 2003, the Spanish government sent a contingent of 1,300 military per- sonnel to Iraq. The troops were stationed in Diwaniya and Najaf. Among the tasks of the CNI agents stationed in the area was to support both the deployment and the stay of the Spanish soldiers. EDUCATION, CULTURE AND COEXISTENCE