Bomb blast damages Basque court building: report

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

Bomb blast damages Basque court building: report

Thu Feb 7, 9:27 PM ET


Graffiti, showing the word Spain in a target, is seen on the wall of a house in a northern Basque village in December 2007. A bomb explosion Friday caused considerable damage to a court building in the northern Basque town of Bergera but no injuries, Spanish media reported. The explosion shortly after midnight was preceded by an anonymous call to firefighters, the Europa Press news agency reported.(AFP/File/Rafa Rivas)

MADRID (AFP) - A bomb explosion Friday caused considerable damage to a court building in the northern Basque town of Bergera but no injuries, Spanish media reported.

The explosion shortly after midnight was preceded by an anonymous call to firefighters, the Europa Press news agency reported.

ETA is suspected of being behind the blast, but the call did not claim responsibility on behalf of the Basque separatist group, as was the case in a December bombing of the court building in the Basque town of Sestao.
Friday's explosion follows the detention on Thursday of two leaders of ETA's political wing, Batasuna, on the orders of Spain's top anti-terrorist judge, Baltasar Garzon.

Batasuna has been banned since 2003 for refusing to condemn violence and cut its links to ETA, which has killed 819 people during almost four decades of fighting for Basque independence.

Batasuna and ETA are considered terrorist organisations by the European Union and the United States.

[source]