Bombs explode in Basque region
Four small bombs exploded today at industrial sites in the Basque region, officials said. A news report said the separatist group ETA may have been behind the attacks.
Two policemen and a security guard were slightly injured after inhaling toxic fumes at a chemical plant where one of the pre-dawn blasts occurred, the Interior Ministry said.
The bombs exploded in four towns in Guipuzcoa province, the capital of which is San Sebastian, the Spanish Interior Ministry office there said.
The news agency Efe quoted a source at the Basque regional Interior Ministry as saying the bombs may have been placed by the armed separatist group ETA. But the official at the Spanish ministry office said she could not confirm this.
The injuries occurred in the explosion in the town of Bergara, where the bomb targeted a chemical plant whose products include a powerful acid for industrial use, the official said.
The four devices detonated in the space of about 90 minutes starting at 3am (1am Irish time), the official said. They targeted two chemical plants, a paint factory and a metalworks facility.
ETA has staged a string of attacks over the past year but has not killed anyone since May 2003, when a bomb attached to the underside of a police car killed two officers in the town of Sanguesa in the Navarra region, which borders the Basque country.
ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s in its campaign for an independent Basque homeland.
Spain’s ruling Socialist party said it is seeking other parties’ support for a parliamentary motion supporting the start of talks with ETA if the group renounces violence, although the negotiations would rule out concessions toward ETA’s goal of Basque independence.
