ETA blamed for bomb

Spain pledged to keep up a tough line with the Basque separatist guerilla group ETA yesterday after a bomb exploded at a Civil Guard police barracks, causing minor damage.

Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso blamed ETA for the attack in the town of Luna, near Zaragoza in northern Spain.

"It's the general aim of the terrorist organisation ETA to intimidate the population through the use of violence," he told a news conference.

"The government of Spain has a clear stance of responding firmly to this kind of activity, and we are going to stick to this task."

There was no claim of responsibility, but an ETA statement last month said the group would continue its campaign of violence, and warned civilians to stay away from barracks.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Tuesday a special security plan was in place to guard against attacks over Christmas.

A Luna council official told state radio the only people in the barracks at the time of the explosion were a guard and his family, who emerged unhurt.

ETA, listed as a terrorist group by Spain, the European Union and the United States, has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in its campaign for an independent Basque homeland.

It has been weakened by more than 100 arrests in Spain and France this year, but recent weeks have seen a resurgence in ETA violence.