Bombs hit Spanish power plant after ETA warning

Four bombs exploded yesterday near a power station in Spain after a warning from Basque separatist guerillas ETA, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks since the government offered peace talks.

The small blasts caused no injuries or damage at the plant at Amorebieta in the Basque country, regional officials said.

Police said they had cleared the area after the warning, which was given half an hour before the explosions, evacuating more than 100 staff.

"The explosions were in scrubland within the perimeter of the plant, but not in any of the buildings," a Basque government spokesman said.

ETA, which wants an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwest France, has been blamed for several attacks since the government offered in May to talk to the group if it laid down its arms.

The guerillas have given conflicting messages: amid a series of bombings they called a ceasefire in June against elected politicians. However, they said in an internal bulletin that the truce did not include government members, according to news reports.

Six members of ETA who urged the group last year to halt attacks were expelled, newspapers reported on Sunday. ETA has issued repeated calls for negotiations but the government says the group it considers a terrorist organisation has to stop violence if it wants to talk.

The Basque regional government said after yesterday's attack that ETA, which has killed nearly 850 people since 1968, was contradicting itself.

"ETA should know that actions like this open a breach and an abyss in the commitment the group says it has to overcome violence and reach peace," it said in a statement.

ETA has killed no one for about two years but attacks have become more frequent since the government's talks offer, which angered the opposition and many Spaniards.

The 800-megawatt plant that was the target of yesterday's bombs is jointly owned by Irish state-owned utility the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and Japanese gas distributor Osaka Gas.

"It was in the final stages of its commissioning process," an ESB spokesman said. He declined to comment on whether the explosions would delay full operation.

Interior Minister José Antonio Alonso condemned the attack and pledged the government's determination to keep fighting ETA.