Spain reassures tourists after ETA bombings

Two bomb blasts in Spanish cities yesterday following three car bombs on Friday raised fears of a destructive summer campaign by the Basque separatist group ETA.

Spanish politicians scrambled to reassure tourists about the explosions, saying they should not worry about a terrorist campaign. The bombings, most close to popular beaches, also appeared to be timed to embarrass Spain's government as it hosted the European Union summit.

The Interior Minister, Mariano Rajoy, said the attacks, which have wounded several people, including a British tourist, 'will not prejudice' an industry which benefits from 50 million visitors a year.

José María Aznar, the Prime Minister, told reporters at the EU summit in Seville that ETA wanted to 'create a climate of threats and a landscape of destruction'. He added that 'they know they are launching attacks in a Europe that has no place for them, that rejects them and is willing to fight them with firmness and determination'.

Three car bombs on Friday, the most serious an attack near a hotel in the pop ular resort of Fuengirola which hurt seven people, including three Britons, were followed yesterday by two more explosions. One in the north-eastern city of Zaragoza caused damage but no injuries; the second in a residential street of the Atlantic coast city of Santander, slightly wounded a policeman. Warnings were telephoned in before the explosions, allowing police to evacuate buildings.

A government spokesman, Pio Cabanillas, told reporters in Seville the campaign should not be 'overvalued', saying the attacks showed ETA's 'weakness' and need for media attention. 'They need to show they are still active and what better a gathering than this one, even if they could not get near the city,' he said.

ETA, which has been placed on the EU's list of terrorist groups, has long hoped to hit Spain where it hurts: its booming tourist industry. Last month police broke up a cell it said was planning to attack tourist targets in Valencia, while officials said that ETA members arrested in France were planning a similar campaign around the tourist hotspots of Málaga and Benidorm.

Last year the group detonated several bombs near hotels along the Costa Brava, and police said they had uncovered plots to bomb ferries running between Santander and Portsmouth, and to the Balearic Isles.

But so far there are few signs of tourists packing up early, or cancelling holidays. British tourists, the largest single group of visitors to Spain, would see the bombs as 'a publicity campaign', said Keith Betton, spokesman for the British Association of Travel Agents.