By Itziar Reinlein
MADRID (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded close to a policestation in the northern Spanish town of Calahorra on Fridayafter a warning from the Basque separatist group ETA, but onlyone person was hurt, the town's mayor said.
ETA has launched sporadic attacks in Spain since it ended aceasefire it announced in March 2006 by bombing Madrid airportin December 2006, killing two people.
Javier Pagola, mayor of Calahorra in the Rioja region,
said a policeman had been slightly hurt by flying glass.
"One Guardia Civil has been hurt by glass which entered hishome," Pagola told state television. "There is a lot ofdamage."
The police station and surrounding area -- crowded withpeople attending the Holy Week religious procession -- had beencleared and cordoned off before the explosion.
The ruling Socialist Party condemned the attack and said
ETA "will never impose its objectives by the use ofviolence."
Spanish authorities blamed ETA for the death on March 7,two days before a general election, of former Socialist Partycouncillor Isaias Carrasco, shot dead in the Basque town ofMondragon.
The PP, which had criticised the outgoing Socialistgovernment led by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero,for talking to ETA during the 2006 ceasefire, also condemnedthe attack.
"We express the hope that in the new legislature, which isjust beginning, the terrorists will receive a clear anddefinite message that, whatever they do, no one will sit downto negotiate with them," the party said in a statement.
ETA has killed more than 800 people in four decades in itsfight for independence for the Basque Country in northern Spainand southern France. Polls show most Basques do not wantindependence but would like greater autonomy from Spain.
(Additional reporting by Joe Ortiz and Feliciano Tisera;Editing by Myra MacDonald)
