Don´t be afraid

Spanish political leaders yesterday urged voters in the Basque region not to be intimidated by the separatist group ETA after a car bombing rocked campaigning for Sunday's general election. The bomb injured seven people - two police and five civilians - in the Basque city of San Sebastian on Monday night in the third attack blamed on ETA in two months. A Civil Guard police vehicle was blown up as it passed a car packed with explosives in a residential street. A Civil Guard officer suffered broken ribs and her partner was slightly injured in the explosion. Officials said their lives may have been saved by the patrol car's armour plating. The other victims, including pedestrians and passengers in another car, escaped with only cuts and bruises. The car bomb was packed with 40 kg (88 pounds) of explosives, twice as much as in the two fatal attacks earlier this year, police said. The three attacks this year ended an 18-month period without bloodshed. ETA had called off a 14-month ceasefire in December. P7-8