Bomb explodes in Basque Spain
From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
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MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A powerful car bomb has shaken the northern Spanish town of Getxo, wounding a policeman who was clearing the area after a warning call was made in the name of the Basque separatist group ETA, a Basque regional police spokesman told CNN.
The bomb, which contained an estimated 40 kilos (88 pounds) of explosives, on Tuesday destroyed the French-made Peugeot sedan in which it was placed and damaged other vehicles and buildings in the area, the spokesman said.
The police officer was rushed to hospital but his wounds were described as slight.
The warning call was made at 2:15 p.m.(8:15 a.m. ET) to the Basque newspaper Gara, which alerted police, and the bomb exploded minutes later. ETA often calls the newspaper when it chooses to issue a warning call before an attack.
A Ministry of Interior spokesman in Madrid had told CNN that the explosion had been in a "low intensity" bomb, but the Basque regional police later issued the estimate of 40 kilos of explosives, which the Basque spokesman said would hardly qualify as low intensity.
The Interior Ministry spokesman would not speculate on what effect the bomb might have on recent talk in Spain that ETA might be preparing a truce.
Getxo is home to various wealthy Basque executives and professionals and has suffered ETA car bombings in the past. It is near the largest Basque city of Bilbao.
Basque police were investigating as yet unverified claims by a man who said the car that exploded had been stolen from him after two men kidnapped him and tied him to a tree in the hills near Getxo. The man freed himself and approached police with the story, the Basque police spokesman said.
ETA stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, which in the Basque language of Euskara means Basque Homeland and Freedom in. Designated a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union, the group has been blamed for more than 800 deaths since 1968.
Around 400 ETA members are in prison.
About 2.5 million Basques live in the Pyrenees mountain region along the border between Spain and France -- where their ancestors have lived for 5,000 years. Another half million live in France.
Separatists want to establish a homeland encompassing the three provinces Spain officially recognizes as Basque; another Spanish province, Navarra; and part of southern France.
ETA's last main attacks took place on two days last month. On December 3, five bombs went off at five Madrid gas stations as hundreds of thousands of Spaniards were heading off for a holiday weekend. Three days later, seven bombs in seven cities wounded five people. Gara received phoned warnings about the explosions on both days.
In a statement published last Sunday in Gara, ETA took responsibility for 23 attacks from September through December 2004, including the Madrid gas station bombings.
Gara also received a phone call saying a bomb would explode at Madrid's Bernabeu stadium late last year, forcing authorities to stop a soccer match between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad with two minutes left to play and evacuate the 75,000 spectators. No bomb was found, and the ETA statement in Gara last Sunday said it was not responsible for that bomb threat.
