Four bombs explode in Northern Spain
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 3:07 am Under World News Alerts 5 views
Four bombs exploded at popular seaside resorts in Cantabria northern Spain on Sunday (July 20), after warning calls from the Basque separatist group ETA and following a small explosion outside a Barclays bank near Bilbao.
One woman was hurt by a flying stone and another treated for shock.
The attacks, which marked the beginning of ETA’s traditional summer bombing campaign, which targets Spanish holiday resorts as part of the group’s four-decade struggle for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southern France.
Spain’s Socialist government says the guerrillas have been severely weakened by a string of arrests, and have called for their surrender after calling off peace talks two years ago.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero broke off a peace process with ETA in 2006 after the group killed two Ecuadorians when it detonated a car bomb at Madrid’s Barajas international airport.
The government condemned the attacks on Sunday and reaffirmed its commitment to fight the group.
The first Cantabria bomb exploded at about 1015 GMT on a seafront promenade in Laredo, one of northern Spain’s most popular holiday destinations, damaging the walkway, breaking windows and sending a 25-metre plume of smoke into the air, an official said.
Holidaymakers had been cleared from the beach 45 minutes earlier and took cover in local cafes and bars which drew down shutters to protect against the blast, witnesses told radio.
“Well I was in the kitchen and suddenly the bomb exploded. They told us in the morning that they had taken the people off the promenade,” said one woman, as she recalled the moment when the one of the bombs went off.
“We were on the avenue and we heard a bomb explode se we left. They won’t let anyone pass over there so that’s why we are here,” added another unidentified man.
Many European schools have started, or are beginning to start their summer holidays and ETA’s summer bombings are aimed at hurting tourism in Spain, the world’s second most popular holiday destination after France.
The second bomb went off around 40 minutes later next to the lifeguard tower on the beach at Noja, about 19 miles (30 km) from Laredo, causing a loud blast but no damage, media said.
A bomb disposal team was only 15 metres away when the small device exploded, 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 said.
The third explosion was next to a Red Cross post in Laredo, close to where the first device went off, officials said. A woman was slightly injured when she was hit by a rock sent flying by the fourth explosion on a golf course at Noja.
A pregnant woman was treated for shock after the bomb exploded while she ate lunch nearby, a government official said.
Early on Sunday a small blast occurred outside a bank in the town of Getxo, damaging a cash dispenser and breaking windows.
ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or Basque Country and Freedom), usually gives a warning before attacking civilian targets. It does not warn of attacks on police, politicians or officials.
The group is listed as a terrorist organisation by Spain, the United States and the European Union. It has killed more than 800 people since 1968, usually with car bombs or shootings.
Zapatero has ruled out further peace talks and says the guerrillas’ only option is a unilateral surrender.
Spain’s conservative Popular Party opposition has questioned Zapatero’s will to force ETA to lay down arms and says he still toys with the idea of resuming the peace process.
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.
Later that month, police in southwest France arrested Francisco Javier Lopez Pena and three other ETA chiefs.
(Agencies)
( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)
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