Car bomb kills two in Spain
A car bomb killed two people, including an eight-year-old girl, in front of the Civil Guard barracks last night in the Spanish resort town of Santa Pola.
Police sources said the car bomb exploded shortly after 8.30pm (1930 Irish time).
Francisco Camps, the representative of the Interior Ministry, said a 50-year-old man and an eight-year-old girl were killed in the blast.
Witnesses and officials said several people who were waiting at a nearby bus stop were treated for injuries and taken to hospital.
Police cordoned off surrounding streets for fear there was another car bomb in the area.
Santa Pola, located on Spain’s southeastern coast near the popular resort of Alicante, is packed with tourists in August.
Although the cause of the blast had still to be confirmed, 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.
ETA’s last fatal attack came on March 21, when a Socialist politician was shot dead in a bar in the Basque town of Orio.
Recently, the armed group has claimed responsibility for several car bombs around the country with no casualties, including five explosions that coincided with the European Union summit in Seville in June.
They were seen as ETA’s campaign to generate fear more than deaths.
Spain, the United States and the European Union all have branded ETA a terrorist organisation.
