Five injured in suspected car-bomb blast
A suspected car bomb exploded in the northern coastal city of San Sebastian today, injuring at least five people, Spanish authorities said.
The blast occurred at 8am local time (0700 GMT) in the Martutene neighbourhood, some 200 yards from a commuter train stop, an Interior Ministry spokesman in the Basque region said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The emergency service DYA said five people were injured, one of them seriously, in the explosion and all were rushed to a hospital. DYA said that all signs pointed to a car bomb as the source of the explosion.
One of the injured was identified as Ignacio Dubreyl Churruca, a city councillor from the Socialist party in the nearby Basque town of Ordizia, party member Rosa Diez said. No more details were immediately available on his condition.
The Basque separatist group ETA has frequently used car bombs as part of its 32-year-old campaign for Basque independence in which some 800 people have been killed.
The group has been blamed for one killing so far this year, and 24 since it ended a 14-month cease-fire in December 1999.
The explosion occurred two days after the Basque government called an early election in the region and exactly one year after another car bomb killed Fernando Buesa, a leading member of the Socialist party in the Basque region, and his police bodyguard.
