Bomb explodes in northern Spain after warning

MADRID - A bomb exploded near a post office building in Spain's Basque Country after a warning in the name of Basque separatist group ETA, causing no injuries, police said.


A woman called the Basque highway agency about an hour before the explosion to warn a bomb had been placed outside the regional post office headquarters in an industrial zone on the outskirts of the Basque city of Bilbao, Basque police said.


Police evacuated the building and cordoned off the zone, they said.


Calling the Basque highway agency is a warning method used by ETA, which has killed about 850 people in a nearly four-decade campaign for an independent state carved out of northern Spain and southwest France.


The bomb, which police estimate contained 10 to 15 kgs of explosive, was left in a bag which had a paper attached to it with the word "bomb" written on it, a police spokesman said.


The spokesman could give no details of damage but said there were no injuries.


It was the fourth bomb detonated by ETA outside a government building in the Basque country in the last week.


- REUTERS