Eta Threats Mar Spain's Constitution Day

Bomb threats from Basque separatists and a series of small explosions on a Madrid ringroad today disrupted the Spanish public holiday to mark the signing of the country's post-Franco constitution in 1978.

Local news reports said there had been five explosions around the capital following a telephone warnings from the armed Basque separatist group Eta.

It was not immediately clear whether the bombs had caused any injuries.

Earlier, more than 200 people were evacuated from Santander airport in the northern region of Cantabria after a local newspaper received a bomb warning from Eta.

The warning said the explosives were timed to detonate between midday and 2pm (1pm GMT) local time

Spain's constitution, signed 27 years ago, explicitly prohibits Eta's key aim, the establishment of an independent Basque state, though it does grant the region a high degree of regional autonomy.

Even outside armed Basque nationalist circles, the constitution has become a battleground within Spanish politics: Catalan politicians continue to campaign for nationhood and the conservative opposition leader in Madrid, Mariano Rajoy, has claimed the constitution is under threat.

Eta has killed more than 800 people in its campaign for an independent Basque state straddling north-eastern Spain and south-western France.

Arrests of key members over the last two years have reduced Eta's operational capacity, and its most recent tactics have been to target businesses and airports with small bombs.

Santander airport was cleared shortly after midday local time and the evacuees were taken to a nearby shopping centre. Police found no explosives inside the buildings.

Bombs were last planted in Santander airport in July 2003; on that occasion, they exploded.

The Basque newspaper El Correo today reported that Eta's latest internal bulletin stated it would not call an anticipated ceasefire until Spain and France made concessions.

This summer it did not carry out its normal bombing campaign against tourist targets, giving rise to speculation that it was ready to lay down its weapons.

The last people killed by Eta were two police officers, Bonifacio Martin and Julian Envit, who died in Pamplona in May 2003 when a bomb was left under their car.