Madrid blasts after Eta warning

The blasts hit two motorways and three ring-roads

Five small bombs have exploded on roads around the Spanish capital, Madrid, following a warning from the Basque separatist group Eta.

No-one was hurt and officials said the blasts caused no damage.

The explosions followed an earlier evacuation of Santander airport in northern Spain after police received a bomb warning from Eta.

Eta has not carried out any fatal attacks for two years in its campaign for an independent Basque state.

Tuesday is a national holiday commemorating the 27th anniversary of Spain's Constitution Day, and millions of Spaniards had taken to the roads for short breaks.

Eta has frequently set off bomb devices on main roads to coincide with national holidays. Last July, it bombed roads during a holiday exodus, and detonated five bombs in petrol stations around Madrid in December 2004.

Holiday traffic

An anonymous caller claiming to represent Eta told the authorities just after 1400 (1300 GMT) on Tuesday that five bombs had been placed on roads around Madrid.

The bombs went off between 1500 and 1530 beside three of Madrid's ring-roads and on motorway exits to Barcelona and La Coruna.

Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said the blasts were "another demonstration of senseless violence and only confirm that we have to continue fighting Eta with all the might of the democratic state".

Earlier on Tuesday, police blamed Eta for planting a small bomb outside a post office in the northern town of Alsasua. The pre-dawn blast caused no injuries and little material damage.