MADRID (Reuters) - A powerful bomb hidden inside a backpack exploded outside a courthouse in Spain's Basque region in the early hours of Friday and police suspected it was the first attack of 2008 by Basque separatist guerrillas ETA.
"We suspect ETA was behind this," said a police spokesman.
It was not the first attack on the courthouse in Bergara, a town run by Basque political party ANV, which is in the process of being banned for alleged links to ETA.
Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, fighting to retain office in a March general election, faces criticism over failed ETA peace talks and has launched a crackdown on the Basque separatist rebels and their allies.
The most recent deaths were in December, when ETA guerrillas shot dead two undercover Spanish policemen in southern France.
