Eta blamed for Basque bomb attack

A car bomb attack this morning on a police station in the Basque city of Durango has slightly injured two officers.

A car bomb attack this morning on a police station in the Basque city of Durango has slightly injured two officers.

A police official examines bomb damage in Durango, Spain.Image: Reuters.
A police official examines bomb damage in Durango, Spain.Image: Reuters.

It appears to be the first attack by the separatist group Eta since it called off a cease-fire in June, officials said.

Those who planted the bomb in Durango, about 25 miles south of Bilbao, fled in a car and then detonated the vehicle in in the nearby town of Amorebieta, the Spanish Interior Ministry office in the Basque regional capital Vitoria said.

The injured officers in Durango suffered cuts from flying glass.

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The blast caused serious damage to the police station in Durango, shattering windows and damaging police cars parked outside. Several nearby apartment buildings were also damaged, the ministry office said.

Eta called a ceasefire in March 2006 but grew frustrated with a lack of government concessions in peace talks and set off a huge bomb in a parking area at Madrid's airport on December 30th, killing two people.

It declared the truce formally over in June, and Spanish security forces have been on alert ever since.

Eta has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in its campaign for an independent Basque state.

AP