Sunday, February 22, 2009
Bomb explodes in local Socialist Party in the Basque Country
Posted by Lesbond at Sunday, February 22, 2009
A bomb exploded in the early hours of Monday outside the local Socialist Party of Euskadi (PSE), in the town of Lazkao (Guipúzcoa, Basque Country), after a call from the armed Basque separatist group ETA, said the channel CNN + news in Spanish.
The explosion, which caused extensive material damage but no injuries, occurs when the Basque country which is preparing for the upcoming regional elections, the channel reported, citing that local government officials.
The explosion occurred at approximately 03H00 (0200 GMT), about two hours after the roadside assistance service for Spanish DYA received a phone call in which someone who spoke in the name of ETA warned of the explosion of a bomb, he added .
ETA usually call the DYA to warn of its attacks.
Polls published on Sunday show that in the upcoming regional elections, the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) could lose after nearly 30 years in power in the Basque Country, with the Socialists.
The armed group ETA was responsible for the deaths of 825 people throughout its 40 years of struggle for an independent Basque country, straddling northern Spain and parts of southwestern France.
The group is considered a violent terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.
ETA ended a ceasefire in June 2007, citing the lack of concessions from the government of socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in preliminary peace talks.
Since then, ETA has committed thirty attacks, killing six people including three policemen.
