Spanish soldier killed in suspected ETA car bomb attack

SpainSantona, Spain - A Spanish soldier was killed Monday and five others were injured when a suspected ETA car bomb exploded outside a military academy in the northern town of Santona in the Cantabria region, officials said.

The bombing was the third attack by the Basque separatist group ETA within 24 hours.

Eleven people were injured on Sunday morning by a car bomb explosion at a police station in the northern Spanish town of Ondarroa near Bilbao.

That attack came only hours after a car bomb exploded in the regional capital of Vitoria, causing no injuries as an anonymous warning gave police time to clear the area.

An anonymous caller had telephoned a warning about Monday's bomb to the Basque region's road assistance service 10 minutes before the explosion in the name of ETA.

Analysts said the attacks may have been in response to the banning of the Basque Nationalist Action party (ANV) on grounds of having links to ETA by the Spanish supreme court on Tuesday.

Basque nationalists accuse the government and judiciary of trying to gag the voice of separatism through its fight against ETA, which has killed more than 820 people in its four-decade campaign for an independent Basque entity. (dpa)

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