MADRID (Reuters) - A town councillor was shot dead in northern Spain on Wednesday in an attack blamed on the Basque separatist guerrilla group ETA, officials said. Tomas Caballero, the 63-year old spokesman for the local branch of the ruling Popular Party, was shot twice in the head, Pamplona Mayor Javier Chourraut told state radio. Authorities said the attack was clearly the work of ETA, which has recently targeted local Popular Party politicians for assassination. Officials said a gunman followed Caballero after he left his house and shot him as he was getting into his car. Caballero was rushed to a local hospital in serious condition and died soon after arrival. Officials said Caballero had recently had some verbal confrontations with members of the political arm of ETA. ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom) has been blamed for four other assassinations of Popular Party politicians over the past year. Most took place in the Basque region of northern Spain. The guerrillas consider the centre-right ruling party the heirs to the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, who brutally repressed Basque nationalism during his nearly four decades in power. ETA has killed more than 800 people in its 30-year struggle for an independent state encompassing parts of northern Spain and southern France.