World

Bomb blasts hit Spanish resorts

by Jordan Yerman | July 20, 2008 at 07:01 am

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Four bombs exploded in the north of Spain today. Nobody was injured in the blasts, as the areas surrunding the devices had been evacuated. According to the police, Eta (a Basque separatist group) had warned them of the impending blasts.

The first device went off at about noon on a seafront promenade in the resort of Laredo, in the Cantabria region.

A few hours later another bomb exploded there. Two more devices went off in Noja, some 20km (12 miles) from Laredo.

One bomb exploded outside a bank in Getxo, damaging a cash dispenser and breaking windows.

Officials said the homemade device packed into a gasoline tin went off without warning at about 5am.

Five hours later, an anonymous caller said ETA had planted four bombs on beaches in Laredo, Ris and Noja as well as at a golf course close to Noja.

Police cordoned off the towns and a device exploded near Laredo's beach at around 12:15 pm.

Eta regularly targets tourist resorts for its summer attacks.

Eta has killed more than 820 people in its 40-year campaign for independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and south-western France.

The group announced a ceasefire in March 2006 but formally ended it last June.