Two hurt in Spanish hotel bomb blast claimed by Basque separatists

MADRID, Jan 30 (AFP) - A bomb exploded Sunday in a hotel in a Spanish Mediterranean resort, wounding two people in an attack claimed by the armed Basque separatist organisation ETA, police said.
Police said the explosion occurred at around 3pm local time (1400 GMT) in the eastern resort of Denia, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the city of Valencia.
A caller claiming to represent ETA called a vehicle breakdown service in the northern Basque city of Bilbao warning that a bomb would explode in 40 minutes in the Port Denia hotel.
"This person said: `this is ETA. There is a bomb at the hotel Port Denia in Denia. The explosion will take place in 40 minutes,`" an employee of the breakdown service told AFP by telephone.
Following the call, police evacuated the 160 guests at the hotel on the Costa Blanca.
Police said the device, hidden in a backpack, was left in the hotel patio. The blast damaged the second and third floors of the building.
ETA`s armed struggle for independence in northern Spain has killed more than 800 people in more than 30 years.
The Basque extremist group in 2003 stated that economic interests and tourism in particular were its priority targets.

01/30/2005 15:38 GMT - AFP