The Spanish government said today it feared the Basque separatist group ETA was preparing bomb attacks in the country's busy beach resorts after a suspected ETA member accidentally blew herself up.
The blast yesterday in the Mediterranean coastal town of Torrevieja sent rubble flying into a pool shared by several apartment blocks and slightly injured six people - four Spanish children and two Eastern Europeans.
Officials said it looked as if the victim was trying to spread ETA's campaign of violence to tourist areas in a bid to disrupt one of Spain's biggest industries. Police were searching for another suspected ETA member who fled the scene of the explosion.
Torrevieja is near the southeastern city of Alicante and is popular with Irish,British and German tourists as well as Spaniards and increasing numbers of visitors from Eastern Europe.
ETA does not usually attack non-Spaniards but it has sporadically targeted resorts to try to hurt the tourism industry that accounts for about 10 per cent of Spain's economy.