Spanish town hit by bomb attack

A small bomb exploded early today in the town of Zarauz on Spain’s north-east coast, damaging a wall, but a second device was safely deactivated, police said. No one was injured.

There was no warning or claim of responsibility, but a local politician accused the Basque separatist group ETA of planting the devices.

A suspicious package was reported to police at 3am (1am Irish time) and defused in a park near the edge of town, police said. The area had been cordoned off when a second device exploded two hours later, damaging a dividing wall near a local industrialist’s home, police said.

The defused device consisted of 4.4 pounds of a chlorine-based explosive, a timer and a detonator, reinforced by some plastic explosive, the Spanish news agency EFE said.

A local Socialist Party leader, Miguel Buen, condemned the attack, saying it was an attempt to scare local businessmen into paying protection money.

“ETA must know that despite blackmail, threats and attacks, businessmen will continue to work to secure the future of businesses and workers,” Buen said.

ETA has been fighting since the late 1960s for an independent Basque homeland in the Basque region straddling northern Spain and south-west France. ETA has claimed responsibility for more than 800 killings since then.