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Basque separatists at it again

A car bomb exploded Saturday night in an industrial area of the central Spanish province of Avila after a call from Basque separatists, the Interior Ministry said. There were no injuries reported. The blast occurred just after 10 p.m. and caused serious damage to three warehouses near the town of Berrocalejo de Aragona, according to the Interior Ministry office in the regional capital, Valladolid.

About a half-hour before, calls was placed to two pro-independence newspapers in the Basque region, the head of the office, Miguel Alejo Vicente, said by telephone. At the time, the park was virtually deserted, and there were no known injuries, he said. If confirmed, it would be the first blast claimed by or attributed to ETA since late July.

There has been increasing speculation that ETA might be close to calling a cease-fire after holding talks with the government. The government denies talks are underway. ETA has killed more than 800 people since the late 1960s in a campaign aimed at achieving an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwest France.