Ten people injured by third Spanish explosion in 24 hours

A car bomb, believed to have been planted by Basque separatists, is reported to have injured ten people, two of them seriously, in the north of the Spanish capital, Madrid. A police spokesman said a man identifying himself as a member of the armed Basque separatist group, ETA, claimed responsibility for the explosion in a telephone warning 15 minutes before the blast.

The explosion follows a car bomb attack in northern Spain earlier today, in which a businessman was killed. the victim, Jose Maria Korta, was just stepping out of his car when the explosion occurred. Korta was by choice a Basque speaker, and supported a negotiated solution to the Basque problem. But his mistake may have been trying to cut off one source of funding for ETA. He called on businessmen not to pay the group's so-called "revolutionary tax" - part of ETA's protection racket.

The escalating violence is being blamed on ETA. Last night, four suspected ETA members carrying explosives in a car in the city of Bilbao died when the bomb blew up. Last night's explosion took place as the car was travelling through an industrial area of Bilbao, the biggest city in the Basque region. An ETA leader was reported to be among the dead. The group has been blamed for the deaths of seven people since it ended a ceasefire last December.