ETA blamed for fatal bomb blast
Politicians from Spain's main political parties have condemned the killing of a police officer when a car bomb he was searching for went off earlier than expected.
The attack in the north-eastern coastal town Roses was blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA.
ETA is now blamed for five killings so far this year and 28 slayings since it ended a unilateral ceasefire in December 1999.
The explosion outside a hotel in Roses occurred seven minutes before 11pm, after an anonymous caller claiming to represent ETA told a Basque newspaper the bomb would detonate on the hour.
The officer killed, Santos Santamaria Avedano, 32, was taking part in police efforts to evacuate residents and hotel guests and search for the device.
Xavier Pomes, regional Interior Ministry delegate, said the bomb comprised some 45 pounds of explosive and that the dead officer was around 100 yards away from the blast site.
Local and regional politicians from the main political parties gathered at Roses town hall to condemn the attack. Outside, more than 1,000 people gathered to protest.
In a statement read to the crowd, town mayor Carlos Paramo described the bomb as a "brutal attack which upset the peaceful co-existence of our town".
Roses is located in the Catalonia region, some 60 miles north of Barcelona and 280 miles east of the Basque region.
Police carried out a controlled explosion of another car bomb in the eastern coastal resort of Gandia.
