Bomb destroys Spanish police barracks and kills policeman in Basque Country

A car bomb car exploded today at 3:00 AM CEST (UTC+2) in the Basque town of Legutiano, near the barracks of the Spanish paramilitary police Guardia Civil. A policeman died and 4 more were injured. The Basque separatist group ETA was blamed for this attack by authorities, but no one has claimed responsibility yet.

The dead man was in a small surveillance building near the barracks, which were both destroyed by the bomb van. Four more people, two men and two women, were injured, one of them seriously. There were more than 40 people in the barracks at the moment of the blast.

The barracks and a nearly abandoned building are practically collapsed. The force of the explosion has also made a large hole and damaged buildings 500 meters away. According to authorities, the bomb van may have contained more than 300 kg of explosives.

"We want to make it clear to the ETA terrorist group that all of the democratic parties are closing ranks to finish off the ETA terrorist group. I express my condolences to the families of the victims," said José Antonio Alonso of the Socialist Workers' Party, the majority leader in the Cortes Generales, while speaking on Cadena SER.

This would be the first fatal action carried out by ETA since Spain's general election two months ago, when Isaías Carrasco was killed on the final day of official campaigning.