Two injured in Basque car blast

Spanish police blamed the Basque terrorist group Eta for a bomb attack which injured a Socialist party member and one other person near Bilbao today.

Eduardo Madina Munoz, 26, a leading member of the youth section of the Basque region’s Socialist party, was seriously injured when the bomb exploded as he was driving his car. One of his legs had to be amputated in a nearby hospital following the blast.

One other person suffered light injuries. Police initially said three people had been wounded.

A police spokesman said the explosion was caused by a limpet bomb attached underneath the car close to the driver’s seat. It went off as the vehicle was driving on the outskirts of Sestao, close to Bilbao.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the police spokesman said ‘‘everything points to Eta,’’ the Basque separatist group. Eta has frequently used limpet and car bombs in its 34 year campaign for independence in the north west of Spain.

The group, classified as a terrorist organisation by the EU and America, has killed more than 800 people since 1968.

The blast came two hours before the governing Popular Party and the Socialists were to meet in Madrid to discuss new laws aimed at allowing the judiciary to outlaw parties which support Eta.