Seven bombs went off in as many Spanish cities on Monday within the space of half an hour, slightly injuring five people, after anonymous callers claiming to speak for the underground Basque separatist group ETA told a Basque newspaper to expect the explosions.
The Interior Ministry said three people, including two police officers, were injured in the central city of Ciudad Real and two more in northern Santillana del Mar.
Minor explosions also occurred in northern Leon, Valladolid and Avila and in southern Alicante and Malaga soon after 1.30pm local time, the Spanish news agency Europa Press reported.
In Leon a bomb went off, causing light damage, in a cafeteria in a central square that had been evacuated after it was identified by the first caller, local police said.
Valladolid’s central square, which was full of tourists on Monday — a local holiday commemorating the adoption of Spain’s Constitution — was also evacuated and sealed off. A low-intensity bomb went off in a cafeteria there that was closed, police said.
In Santillana del Mar, a bomb went off in the parking lot of a zoo, police said.
On Friday, five bombs went off in filling stations around Madrid following a similar warning attributed to ETA, causing no casualties. The warning was also telephone to Gara, the usual vehicle for claims by ETA militants.
Police on Sunday defused another device in the southern city of Almeria. — Sapa-AFP