Car bomb explosion rocks Madrid

Explosives are believed to have been left in bags in the van

A car bomb has exploded in Madrid after a warning was given to a newspaper in the name of the Eta Basque militants.

Three people are reported to have been injured in the blast in the north of the Spanish capital at 0730 GMT.

Police had been able to clear most of the area after the Basque Gara paper - often contacted before such attacks - passed on the warning it had received.

The Spanish parliament recently backed a plan to allow peace talks with Eta if the group lays down its arms.

The BBC's Katya Adler says this is the sixth explosion blamed on Eta in the eight days since that decision.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero condemned the attack during a speech in the Senate shortly after the blast, reiterating the government's goal to combat and end terrorism.

"I want to share with you my condemnation for this violent act, for this act of terror," he said.

"The only fate that the terrorist group Eta has is to lay down weapons and dissolve."

Backpacks

Opposition Popular Party spokesman Pio Garcia Escudero expressed support for the government, according to Efe, adding that the latest attack "does not seem to show a desire to negotiate, rather an attempt to apply pressure".

The Gara newspaper reported that the caller said a device had been left in a Renault Express vehicle parked in Rufino Gonzalez Street, in the San Blas area of Madrid, and was going to explode at 0730 GMT.

Reports say the explosives were packed in backpacks inside the van.

Police were able to cordon off the area before the explosion.