19 May 2008

BILBAO - A car bomb believed to have been planted by the militant Basque separatist group ETA damaged a nautical club in the northern Spanish seaside town of Getxo overnight, causing no injuries, police said Monday.

Police had evacuated the area after receiving a warning 50 minutes earlier from an anonymous caller speaking in the name of ETA.

The bomb, which had been placed in a parked van, caused major damage to the club building where businessmen and politicians sometimes meet.

The blast, which tore a deep hole in the ground and could be heard several kilometres away, also shattered windows of nearby buildings.

The explosion caused a power cut, turning lights off in the area.

The attack followed a deadlier one on Wednesday when a car bomb targeted a police barracks in Legutiano, killing an officer and injuring four others.

The victim, Juan Manuel Pinuel, was ETA's sixth since Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's attempt to negotiate with the group collapsed in 2006.

ETA has killed about 830 people in its four-decade campaign for a sovereign Basque state.

[dpa / Expatica]