Spain Terror Group Blamed for Bombs
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MALAGA, Spain — Two small bombs blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA exploded at tourist resorts in southern Spain yesterday, authorities said. No injuries were reported, but more than 10,000 people were evacuated from a harbor area.
A bomb squad later defused a third device found next to a bridge linking the busy port city of Malaga with its international airport, police said.
It is the height of the summer tourist season in Spain, and ETA has previously carried out attacks in vacation areas at this time of year in an effort to disrupt tourism.
The first blast occurred on a beach in Guadalmar at around 1 p.m. (7 a.m. EDT), and a second device exploded at a marina parking lot in Benalmadena Costa two hours later, the Interior Ministry said.
Both towns are around 340 miles south of Madrid in the Costa del Sol resort area on a stretch of coastline popular with foreign tourists, especially the British.
A caller who said he spoke in the name of ETA warned the fire department in the beach resort of Benalmadena that three bombs would explode, the ministry said.