Bomb explodes in Spanish park

A small bomb exploded today in a park in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela after a warning call on behalf of the Basque separatist group ETA.

The explosive device went off in the Parque de la Alameda, in the heart of the north-western pilgrimage city, around noon (11am Irish time) causing little damage and no injuries.

Several small bombs have gone off in northern Spain in recent weeks following warnings in the name of ETA.

Today a caller told the pro-Basque daily Gara that a device had been planted in the park in Santiago and another in the nearby city of Coruna.

The targeted area in Coruna was cordoned off and a hotel and social club evacuated. No explosives have been found.

ETA has killed more than 800 people in its three-decade-old campaign for an independent Basque country in lands straddling northern Spain and south-west France.

Spain’s previous government waged a relentless fight against the group and chalked up nearly 200 arrests, including those of senior leaders. ETA’s last fatal attack was in May 2003.

The latest string of minor blasts would seem to have put paid to speculation that the group was preparing a cease-fire following the emotional trauma wreaked by the Islamist militants’ bomb attacks on trains in Madrid that killed 191 persons March 11.