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WORLD> Europe
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ETA blamed for blasts in northern Spain
Updated: 2008-07-20 21:29 "There were no injuries because the area had been cleared and cordoned off," a national government spokesman said. Many European schools have started, or are beginning to start their summer holidays. The second bomb went off in dunes at Noja, about 19 miles from Laredo, causing a loud blast but no damage, Spanish media reported. Poor weather meant there were few people on the Noja beach but a police call to evacuate the area sent tourists running, blocking the road out of town to the city of Bilbao, media reported. The third explosion was in Laredo, again causing no injuries, officials said. Police continued to look for the fourth device. The explosions marked the beginning of ETA's traditional summer bombing campaign in which it targets Spanish holiday resorts as part of its 4-decade struggle for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southern France. Emergency authorities received a call telling them ETA had planted four bombs on the beaches of Laredo, Noja and Noja's golf course. The call said the devices would explode between 6:00 a.m. EDT and 9:00 a.m. EDT on Sunday, said a government official. ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or Basque Country and Freedom) is listed as a terrorist organization by Spain, the United States and the European Union. It has killed more than 800 people since 1968, typically with car bombs or shootings. More than 750 suspected ETA members have been detained since 2000. The Cantabria blasts were the first attributed to ETA since May 14 when the separatists exploded a bomb without warning at the Civil Guard barracks in Legutiano, killing policeman Juan Manuel Pinuel-Villalon and injuring 4 others. |
