Five bomb blasts shake north

Five bombs exploded in northern Spain, causing damage but no injuries, officials said. A person who claimed to speak for the Basque separatist group ETA had phoned in warnings about four of the bombs.

The first detonated without warning around 5 a.m. outside a bank in the Basque town of Getxo, damaging a cash dispenser and breaking windows, the regional Interior Ministry said in Bilbao.

Five hours later, a caller warned the Basque fire service that four bombs would explode in Laredo and Noja in the neighboring province of Cantabria, the ministry said.

ETA, considered a terrorist group by Spain, the EU and the U.S., has been fighting since 1968 for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and western France.