eta attack
The blast caused extensive damage to the building
23.02.09 - 17:51 -
Policemen and Basque Socialist Party PSE-PSOE representatives visit the Socialist headquarters in Lazkao after the bomb explosion. / AFP
A bomb exploded early this morning outside the Socialist Party headquarters in Lazkao, a town in the northern province of Guipuzcoa, causing extensive damage but no injuries, the Basque regional government's Interior Ministry said.
An anonymous caller, who claimed to be speaking for the Basque terrorist group ETA, called the DYA motorist assistance organization at 1:00 a.m. to warn that the bomb would go off an hour later.
A Basque police patrol spotted a suspicious backpack at the door of the Socialist Party headquarters shortly before the call was received, warning residents and sealing off the area.
The unidentified caller later corrected himself and told DYA the bomb would go off at 3:00 a.m.
The blast caused extensive damage to the building, where investigators are gathering evidence.
Lazkao, a town of some 5,000 people, is located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of San Sebastian.
Spain's Basque region will be holding regional legislative elections next Sunday.
Political parties
On Feb. 9, ETA detonated a car bomb in Madrid, but no one was injured, with the attack coming just hours after the Spanish Supreme Court barred two political parties considered close to the Basque terrorist group from taking part in the regional elections.
On Feb. 9, ETA detonated a car bomb in Madrid, but no one was injured, with the attack coming just hours after the Spanish Supreme Court barred two political parties considered close to the Basque terrorist group from taking part in the regional elections.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Askatasuna and D3M parties could not participate in the March 1 elections because of their ties to Batasuna, the outlawed political wing of ETA.
This is the first time that no parties close to the Basque terrorist group will be allowed to compete in regional elections.
The attack was the first staged by ETA in Madrid since Dec. 30, 2006, when the terrorist group set off a bomb at the Madrid airport that killed two people.
The car bomb went off in front of the headquarters of construction company Ferrovial-Agroman, one of the firms building the high-speed train system in the Basque region.
The high-speed train will link the Basque region's main cities to the rest of Spain and to France.
The train project has been the target of threats and sabotage by ETA.
Killing
On Dec. 3, construction executive Ignacio Uria Mendizabal was shot and killed by two ETA gunmen. The 71-year-old Uria was a top executive of one of the firms building the new railway.
On Dec. 3, construction executive Ignacio Uria Mendizabal was shot and killed by two ETA gunmen. The 71-year-old Uria was a top executive of one of the firms building the new railway.
ETA detonated a car bomb on Dec. 31 near the offices of Basque regional television station EITB in the northern city of Bilbao.
The bomb, which had been placed inside a van, caused extensive damage to the EITB building, which also houses the offices of the private television network Antena 3, the daily El Mundo and Onda Cero radio.
ETA has carried out nearly two dozen attacks since June 5, 2007, when it ended its unilateral cease-fire.
Most observers, however, regarded the December 2006 attack at the Madrid airport as marking the end of the terrorist group's cease-fire.
ETA had declared a "permanent cease-fire" in March 2006 in an apparent attempt to negotiate peace with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government.
ETA, an acronym for the Basque language words for Homeland and Freedom, has killed more than 850 people since taking up arms in 1968 to seek a Basque nation comprising parts of northern Spain and southern France.
