Europe News
Bomb kills 1 in Spain's Basque region, (1st Lead)
By DPA
May 14, 2008, 4:20 GMT

Madrid - A car bomb blast killed one person and injured four others at the barracks of the Spanish Civil Guard in the northern Basque region early Wednesday, according to police.

Part of the barracks building collapsed, burying two policemen. One of them died and the other was brought to hospital. Three other people were reported injured.

There was no warning before the 3 am (0100 GMT) strong explosion in the town of Legutiano, 15 kilometres north of Vitoria in Spain's Basque region.

Police have cordoned off the area where a delivery van loaded with explosives was left at the entrance of the barracks. The blast tore a several-metre-wide crater in the ground and destroyed the vehicle completely, according to police.

Some nearby buildings were also damaged by the blast.

Though no group has claimed responsibility for the bomb, local media speculated it was the militant Basque separatist group ETA.

ETA has killed more than 800 people in its 40-year armed campaign for an independent Basque country.