Small blasts hit northern Spain

ETA has carried out bomb attacks in Santander in the past

Two small explosive devices went off in cities in northern Spain on Thursday, injuring at least one person, after warning calls to newspapers.

One bomb exploded near a bank in Santander. The second explosion was in Gijon where one person was hurt.

The blasts come a day after thousands of beachgoers were evacuated in eastern Spain following a warning.

Last weekend, the Basque separatist group Eta claimed responsibility for two similar attacks in the north.

Both Santander, a provincial capital, and Gijon, 120km (75 miles) to the west, are popular seaside resorts.

Two anonymous calls warned of the first bomb, which went off near the former headquarters of Spain's largest bank, Santander Central Hispano, a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry said.

The summer bombings aim to undermine Spain's tourism industry

A spokesman for the bank said the explosion had been "small, like fireworks".

A second device went off in front of a restaurant on a beach in Gijon, injuring an elderly man.

From early reports it was not immediately clear whether the phone calls to a paper in Santander and a Basque newspaper had been made in the name of Eta, but officials seemed inclined to think that the separatist group was behind the attacks.

"Once more, ETA wants to disrupt our lives, and once more they've succeeded," said Miguel Angel Revilla, the head of the regional government of Cantabria, whose capital is Santander.

"This is a disaster, which is what they want - to hit the nerve centres of the summer tourist season and economic activity," he added. Eta - the acronym for Basque Homeland and Freedom - campaigns for an independent state.

The group, which has killed more than 800 people since 1968, has not carried out a deadly attack for more than a year.