Ex-Socialist councillor killed in Basque shooting

BILBAO, Spain (Reuters) - A former councillor from Spain's ruling Socialist Party was shot dead outside his house in the Basque Country town of Mondragon on Friday two days before a national election, police said.

Isaias Carrasco, 42, was shot in the back of the neck in a style typical of Basque separatist rebels ETA, newspaper El Pais said on its Web site.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but ETA has killed more than 800 people in four decades of struggle for the independence of the Basque Country in northern Spain.

The attack comes as Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who tried but failed to negotiate a peace deal with ETA, leads opinion polls ahead of Sunday's vote.

Zapatero first became prime minister thanks to a surprise election victory following a terror attack in 2004, when Islamist extremists killed 191 people by bombing Madrid trains.