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WORLD / Europe |
2 Spanish police wounded by suspected ETA bomb(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-24 14:51 MADRID -- Two Spanish police were slightly wounded by a bomb in the Basque region on Friday in what police said appeared to be the first bombing by ETA separatist guerrillas since they ended a ceasefire in June. The bomb, which had been placed in a van parked outside a police barracks in the town of Durango, caused considerable damage to the building, a Civil Guard police spokesman said. The two police officers were hit by flying glass. A second vehicle, believed by police to have been used by the bombers to flee the attack, exploded in the town of Amorebieta about an hour later, said the spokesman. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the police spokesman said: "We have little doubt it was (ETA)." For weeks Spain's Socialist government has warned of an imminent ETA attack after the arrests of members of the Basque guerrilla group and the capture of explosives. The guerrilla group said on June 5 it was calling off a 15-month-old ceasefire, which it had already effectively broken by bombing Madrid airport in December. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero attempted peace talks with ETA last year but called them off after the airport bombing, which killed two people. ETA guerrillas have killed more than 800 people in a four decade campaign for independence for Basque areas in northern Spain and southern France. Opinion polls show most inhabitants of Spain's Basque region, which already enjoys considerable autonomy, do not want full separation from Madrid. |
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