A bomb has this afternoon exploded in the Spanish city of Santander. The blast comes two hours after a
package bomb went off on the Costa del Sol and brings to five the number of explosions in Spain over the past 24 hours.
There were no injuries reported in either of today’s blasts.
The Basque separatist group, ETA, have claimed responsibility and phoned warnings before the bombs went off.
ETA’s show of force this weekend is timed to coincide with the European Union summit in Seville.
Nine people have been injured, one seriously, in the spate bomb attacks that started yesterday.
Reacting to the bombings, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said ETA was striking at Europe itself, and vowed that they would be brought to justice.
"Europe will turn its back on them and combat them firmly and determinedly," Mr Aznar declared.
The first of today’s bombs was left between two parked cars in a hotel car park in Mijas 100 miles from Seville and just four miles from Fuengirola, which was also hit yesterday.
The fifth blast, in the northern port of Santander, occurred at the same time as President Aznar was holding a closing press conference ending the EU gathering.
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Police Chief Juan Cotino talks on a mobile phone in front of burnt out cars damaged in a car bomb blast in the town of Fuengirola. Photo: Reuters
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Six people were injured in the first of Friday's three explosions, at an underground car park in the Mediterranean beach resort of Fuengirola. One of them, a British tourist, is in serious condition.
The 33-year-old British man was hit by flying metal and underwent surgery for serious injuries to his lungs, abdomen and pelvis in the first of the series of explosions.
A Spanish couple, two British and a Moroccan youth were slightly injured. A medical bulletin in Marbella on the Costa del Sol reported an improvement in the condition of three victims still hospitalised, including the Briton.
The Fuengirola explosion was followed six hours later by a bomb only 17 miles away in Marbella. There were no casualties.
A further three people were slightly injured by a car bomb outside a department store in the northern Spanish city of Zaragoza.
Then early on Saturday a bomb left between two parked cars exploded in a hotel car park in the town of Mijas, about 160 kilometres 100 miles southeast of Seville.
AFP