Package bomb explodes in Spain

A package bomb has exploded in southern Spain.

Telephone warnings said the Basque separatist group Eta was responsible, police said.

The bomb, which contained little explosive material, was timed for the end of the two-day European summit in Seville.

The Spanish news agency Efe reported the package was found in a fuse box of a car park.

Two hotels in the area were evacuated after police received telephone warnings that a bomb would go off in 30 minutes.

The explosion, which took place around 1.05pm (12.05pm Irish time), damaged two cars near the Hotel Camisas Golf.

The package bomb comes a day after three car bomb explosions rocked the southern cities of Marbella and Fuengirola and the northeast city of Zaragoza at the start of the EU summit.

Nine people were injured, two seriously because of the blasts.

ETA has killed nearly 800 people in its 34-year campaign for an independent Basque homeland in territories of northern Spain and southwest France.

The group is classified as a terrorist organisation by Spain, the United States and the European Union. It is blamed for 35 killings since breaking off a ceasefire in 2000.