SPAIN: Forty-three people, five of them policemen, were treated for minor injuries yesterday after a bomb exploded in Madrid. The Basque separatist organisation ETA was blamed.
Some 25 were taken to hospital for damage to their hearing and for cuts from flying glass. Most were able to return home after treatment.
Although a 40-minute warning was received at 8.55 a.m., the bomb went off five minutes early before police had fully cordoned off the area and evacuated buildings. The Interior Minister, Mr José Antonio Alonso, immediately blamed ETA.
The Basque newspaper Gara - a publication frequently used by ETA for its communiques - received a call that the bomb had been left in the IFEMA exhibition and trade fair complex in the Juan Carlos I Park near Madrid Airport, but gave no details to its exact location. This caused a delay in locating the car.
This is the third ETA attack this year. Three weeks ago a car bomb slightly injured a police officer and damaged cars and property in Getxo, near Bilbao. At the end of last month a large bomb badly damaged a tourist hotel in Denia, on the Costa Blanca, without causing injuries.
ETA last struck in Madrid in December when it detonated eight small devices in filling stations one evening.
The Juan Carlos I Park is a modern development which houses Madrid's largest conference hall, trade fair and exhibition pavilions. There are also hotels, offices of mainly high-tech businesses and a golf course.
The car was left near a statue of the Count of Barcelona, the late father of King Juan Carlos.
The bomb went off 300 metres from the building where King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and the Mexican President, Mr Vicente Fox, were due to inaugurate ARCO, the annual international contemporary art fair, in the evening. The ceremony went ahead as planned, although with tightened security.
The bomb was placed in a car stolen in Guadalajara, 40 kilometres from Madrid, on Tuesday evening, and was left outside the glass-fronted Bull technologies building less than two hours before the blast.
Because of the royal visit, anti-terrorist police had inspected the area early yesterday and found nothing suspicious. Since ETA often leaves more than one device, and sometimes a booby-trapped car near the scene of its attacks, the IFEMA complex was evacuated for several hours while bomb squads searched the area.
Only last Thursday the complex was visited by the International Olympic Committee team on its visit to Madrid to inspect the sites which would be used if the city is chosen to host the 2012 games.The terrorist threat figured prominently in the inspection, although the government has promised to create a single anti-terrorist body which would "make Madrid one of the safest cities in the world".
Yesterday's bombing came as Spanish police were carrying out an anti-ETA operation across the country. Fourteen terrorist suspects were detained in the three Basque provinces, Navarra, Cadiz and Valencia.