ETA bombs again

The Basque separatist group ETA set off bombs in cities across Spain yesterday, slightly wounding five people and escalating their renewed fight for independence on the day Spaniards celebrate unity.

The outlawed guerilla group called in warnings minutes before the seven simultaneous blasts to allow police to clear cafés and public squares.

It marked the second wave of attacks in three days, showing ETA was still capable of high-profile attacks despite more than 100 arrests this year including the capture of the group's leader in France two months ago.

The small bombs hit the cities of Alicante, Avila, Ciudad Real, Leon, Malaga, Santillana del Mar and Valladolid - a corridor from the far north to south of Spain.

On Friday, coordinated ETA bombings at five Madrid service stations marked the first attack on the capital in two years and ETA's most significant strike following months of relative inactivity.

Yesterday's bombs slightly wounded at least five people, including a seven-year-old girl, as the country celebrated the anniversary of the 1978 constitution.

The constitution is widely cheered as the rebirth of Spanish democracy after the four-decade Franco dictatorship, but the document is bitterly opposed by ETA for enshrining the Basque region as part of Spain.

"Today is Spanish Constitution Day and it has to continue being Spanish Constitution Day, not ETA Day... ETA maintains operational capabilities and that's why we are on maximum alert," Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told a news conference.

ETA, Western Europe's most active guerilla group and listed as terrorist by the European Union, has killed nearly 850 people since 1968 in a bombing and shooting campaign for Basque independence from Spain and France.

But there have been no fatal attacks for 18 months amid a police crackdown that has resulted in more than 100 arrests this year.

A raid in France two months ago rounded up 20 suspects including ETA's top leadership and a major arms cache in the harshest blow against ETA in 12 years.

As in Friday's attacks, ETA called the Basque newspaper Gara ahead of time to warn of the impending explosions. That tactic is seen as ETA's attempt to demonstrate it was still capable of killing but chooses not to.

Many ETA-watchers have said the group apparently has decided not to risk even further public backlash by killing more people in the wake of the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, carried out by Islamic militants, when 191 people died.

Spain's top dignitaries were enjoying cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at a reception in parliament to mark Constitution Day when the bombs exploded.

The back-to-back coordinated attacks have shattered hopes for a Christmas truce after the guerillas and their closest political allies called for peace talks with the government - offers rejected by the mainstream political class.