There were no casualties when a car bomb went off at 0.20am this morning outside the 'El Abra' maritime club in Getxo's Las Arenas district though the blast, which could be heard miles away in all the towns on both banks of the Nervión river delta, cut power lines and caused substantial material damage, not only to the club itself, but also to several nearby properties and street furniture. A warning call made to the offices of the DYA regional traffic information line at 11.55pm enabled police to evacuate and cordon off the area.

The club is a popular venue often chosen by the Basque Business Circle to entertain political leaders, the last of whom to visit was the general secretary of the Basque socialist party (PSE-EE), Patxi López, who did so last week.

Since 2000, ETA has attacked the Las Arenas district, which is home to a large number of liberal business leaders, politicians and other professionals - who are habitual targets of ETA extortion campaigns - on a total of seven occasions although one of the bombs was defused before it went off.

Including the two killed in the Barajas airport bombing on December 30th 2006, Basque terrorists have killed six people in 22 attacks since the end of their most recent ceasefire, the last of whom to die was Juan Manuel Piñuel, who was killed last Wednesday morning in a car bomb attack on a Guardia Civil barracks in Legutiano.