Basque city car bomb injures bodyguard

October 9, 2007 A bomb wounded a local politician's bodyguard in the northern city of Bilbao on Tuesday, in an attack a senior Spanish Interior Ministry official blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA.

Spanish media say the injured man is a bodyguard for a town councillor from Spain's ruling Socialist Party, who was taken to hospital with burns to his face, right hand, and shoulder. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, Basque regional government sources said the attack bore the hallmarks of an attack by the armed separatist group ETA.

It comes days after suspected leaders of the separatist party Batasuna were arrested, an action the party described as a "declaration of war".