Mon, Aug 09, 2004 - Page 6 News List

Two small bombs explode in Spanish seaside villages

AFP , MADRID

Two small bombs exploded in seaside villages in northern Spain on Saturday but caused only minor damage after police reacted to warnings from the armed Basque separatist movement ETA, local government authorities said.

Police evacuated a public park in San Vicente de la Barquera, on the Cantabrian coast, where one bomb exploded about 40 minutes after a man claiming to speak for ETA telephoned Basque-language newspaper Gara in the nearby Basque region.

A second bomb went off in the village of Ribadesella in the neigboring province of Asturias about half an hour later, causing slight damage.

The spokesman for the parliamentary group of the Basque party Sozialista Abertzaleak -- which replaced the Batasuna party in the Basque parliament after it was outlawed -- expressed relief at the lack of casualties.

"We welcome the fact that there were apparently no injuries or deaths in these attacks, that makes us happy and we want to let that be known," Arnaldo Otegi said after a party meeting in Vitoria in the Basque country.

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