Basque separatists - Spain
Bomb blast outside court in Basque region
Saturday 04 October 2008
A bomb exploded outside a court in the town of Tolosa in Spain's northeastern Basque region, following a warning call from the armed Basque separatist group ETA. The blast was limited, and no injuries were reported.
Saturday 04 October 2008
By AFPA small bomb exploded Saturday outside a court in Spain's northeastern Basque region following a warning call from the armed Basque separatist group ETA, causing material damage but no injuries, Spanish media reported.
The bomb went off at 1:15 am (2315 GMT Friday) in the town of Tolosa about half an hour after a man speaking in the name of ETA called Basque traffic department DYA to warn of an imminent blast, public television TVE said.
It had been left in a rucksack in the steps of the court, the Europa Press news agency reported, citing local police who had cordoned off the area.
ETA, which is blamed for the deaths of over 820 people in its 40-year campaign of bombings and shootings for an independent Basque homeland, traditionally calls the DYA to warn of its attacks.
Its last victim was a soldier who was killed when a car bomb exploded outside a military school in the northern autonomous Cantabria region, which is beside the Basque region, on September 22.
The attack was one of three in northern Spain over that weekend blamed on ETA and in which 11 people were also wounded.
It was the fifth death in an attack suspected to be the work of the militant group since the organisation formally ended a 15-month ceasefire in June 2007 citing a lack of progress in its tentative peace talks with the government of Prime Minister Jose Rodriguez Zapatero.
Spanish police have detained dozens of suspected members of ETA and its supporters in recent months and Zapatero has repeatedly ruled out any further talks with the group.
Last month the country's Supreme Court banned two Basque independence parties linked to Batasuna, ETA's outlawed political wing.
Spain's Constitutional Court meanwhile declared illegal the Basque regional government's plan to hold a referendum on self-determination for the wealthy region.
Analysts say the recent string of bombings are ETA's response to last month's court decisions against separatist interests.
ETA, whose symbol is a snake wrapped around an axe, is considered a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States.
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