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ETA Bombs Spanish Hotel, Tourist Injured
DENIA, Spain (Reuters) - A bomb exploded in a seaside hotel in southeast Spain on Sunday, slightly injuring a tourist, after a warning call in the name of the Basque separatist group ETA, officials said. The bomb, the second claimed by ETA in two weeks, was hidden in a backpack and left in a courtyard in the hotel in Denia, near the resorts of Benidorm and Alicante, the Interior Ministry said. About 160 people, including several British tourists, were evacuated before the explosion, but one guest's eardrums were damaged by the blast, a ministry source said. The blast, which ripped a hole 10 meters by 5 meters (33 ft by 16 ft) in an outside wall and shattered windows, followed a warning call to the Basque roadside assistance authority in the name of ETA, a spokesman there said. "There's a device in Hotel Port Denia, in Denia. In 40 minutes it will explode," the spokesman quoted a woman as saying. "Long live ETA," she added in Basque. The Interior Ministry said the bomb exploded 35 minutes after the call. Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso condemned the attack in a statement saying: "Terrorist attacks will never manage to change ... the government's policy of absolute steadfastness against terrorist violence." Less than two weeks ago a car bomb exploded in a Basque coastal town, injuring a police officer and crushing growing expectations of a cease-fire by ETA, which has killed nearly 850 people since 1968 in a campaign for an independent Basque state. Posted by: Steve 2005-01-31 |
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