MONDRAGON, Spain, March 8, 2008 (AFP) - Spanish mourners united Saturday against ETA at the funeral of a former Socialist town councillor killed in an attack blamed on the Basque separatists.

Hundreds applauded as the coffin carrying the body of Isaias Carrasco was carried through the streets of the northern Basque town of Mondragon on the shoulders of family and friends as light rain fell.

'We are all Isaias,' read one sign carried by a mourner.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero accused ETA of carrying out his murder on Friday to try and disrupt Sunday's general election.

'This gives us all more desire to go vote on Sunday. It is our democratic revenge against this ETA mafia which no longer represents anyone,' said Lola Alvarez, who travelled from the nearby city of Vitoria to attend the funeral.

The funeral service was presided over by the Bishop of San Sebastian, Juan Maria Uriarte, who encouraged voters to show 'courage' and not be 'afraid' to exercise their right to vote.

Before the funeral Carrasco's daughter Sandra appealed to voters to turn out in large numbers in the general election to honour her father.

'Those who want to show solidarity with my father and our pain should turn out and vote on Sunday to tell the assailants that we are going to win,' she said outside of the town hall in Mondragon.

A man who appeared to be wearing a fake beard shot Carrasco at short range in daylight Friday before his wife and one of his three daughters outside of their home in the town, witnesses have said.

'The hardest thing is thinking that whoever killed him probably knew him. And knew that he did not have a bodyguard. It's disgusting and cowardly,' said a Carrasco family friend, Elena Pinedo, through tears at the funeral.

The walls of the town are covered with posters calling on voters to abstain from voting in the election.

It is governed by the ANV party which was banned last month by a Spanish court from fielding candidates in the general election because of its alleged links to Batasuna, ETA's outlawed political wing.

'I have two cousins who are in jail for being ETA members. But we are not all the same. There are good people in Mondragon. The most important thing is that people are starting to get very fed up with this,' said Xabier as he watched Carrasco's casket leave the church.