No explosives found after Eta airport threat
A threat of attack from the armed Basque separatist group Eta forced the closure of the airport in the northeastern Spanish city of Zaragoza today, authorities said.
Police searched the building for four hours but found no explosives, and the airport reopened soon after, said an Interior Ministry official in Zaragoza, some 185 miles northeast of Madrid.
The threat was received in a telephone call around 9am Irish time. The anonymous caller, claiming to speak on behalf of Eta, said there would be an attack with a grenade launcher between 9am and 11am.
The ministry official said no passengers were at the airport at the time of the threat because no morning flights had been scheduled.
Zaragoza, capital of the Aragon region, is located halfway between Madrid and Barcelona.
In June, two grenades exploded close to the airport following warning calls by Eta. No one was injured and no buildings were damaged in the explosions about 300 yards from the airport.
Police later found three grenade launchers outside the airport complex, one with a grenade still in it.
Eta has killed more than 800 people in a campaign for Basque independence since 1968. In recent months it has set off a series of small explosive devices. Its last lethal attack was in May 2003 when it killed two police officers.
