Tourists put on alert after Majorca triple bomb attack

MORE than 2,000 Irish tourists on holidays in Majorca have been urged to stay on alert for any suspect packages after a triple bomb attack by terrorist group ETA on the Spanish resort.

In a four-hour period yesterday, three bomb blasts in restaurants and an underground shopping centre caused panic that the holiday destination has become the centre of a sustained campaign by the Basque separatist organisation to destabilise Spain’s vital tourist economy.

Between 2.45pm and 6pm, Spanish police were forced to evacuate bars, restaurants and hotels in the island’s capital of Palma, after it emerged ETA planted three devices in the busy area.

According to local airport authority AENA, more than 600,000 Irish and British tourists travel to the destination every August, with more than 8,000 flying from Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports.

While there had been no cancellations of outgoing flights to the island from Ireland due to the terrorist attacks, last night holidaymakers were being urged to take precautions and be prepared for the possibility of further alerts.

In a security clampdown on the island tourists have been told to expect rigorous controls at airports and ports, and an increased presence of armed police in all resorts.

The first of the weekend blasts exploded at 2.45pm yesterday in Italian restaurant La Rigoletta, in front of the Can Pere Antoni beach, overlooking the harbour in Palma.

While the restaurant was full at the time, nobody was injured by the bomb, which had been left in a rucksack hidden in the ceiling of the women’s toilet.

“Everything shook a little bit, at first we thought it was a door slamming, or a firework going off,” explained diner Gonzalo Pena, adding that police were taking statements from a couple who saw a woman in her 50s leaving a large brown bag inside the toilet.

The second bomb went off in the toilets of the nearby Enco restaurant at approximately 4pm as police cordoned off the area.

Two hours later another device exploded in a shopping centre underneath Palma’s main square, the Plaza Mayor.

Three hours before the first attack, a woman is understood to have called a taxi company in the Basque country warning ETA had planted three bombs in bars and restaurants in Palma, and that they would go off between midday and 6pm.

While the Department of Foreign Affairs was unavailable for comment last night, it has previously stated that as ETA has broken a pre-existing ceasefire Irish tourists should be “vigilant and aware that attacks could be indiscriminate”.