5 January 2006

ZARAGOZA — ETA carried out two bomb attacks at a hotel in the eastern province of Zaragoza.

The blasts happened between 7am and 7.30am after a telephone warning in the name of the Basque separatist  group.

The hotel was closed out of season and no one was injured.

The warning was made to a motoring association in San Sebastian in northern Spain.

The blasts caused only minimal damage.

The four-star hotel, part of the state-owned Parador chain, is in the historic town of SOS del Rey Catolico in the province of Zaragoza in eastern Spain.

ETA has often attacked hotels or major motorways during holiday periods.

The group has killed some 850 people in its armed campaign for an independent Basque state.

Last week, it claimed responsibility for 21 bombings in Spain over the past two months, including attacks on businesses that refused to fund the group.

The group also said it was responsible for the bombings of five law courts and a bomb attack close to a disco.

Since the government said in May it would talk to ETA if it laid down its arms, speculation has grown that a ceasefire could be imminent.

But ETA, which had earlier made repeated calls for talks, said it would not call a ceasefire until Spain and France made concessions.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news