Bomb explodes near nightclub in Spain
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-22 08:25

A bomb exploded near a nightclub in a Basque area Wednesday, but police cleared the area before the blast and no one was hurt, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.

Police had been tipped off to the explosive in the back of the building in the Pyrenees village of Santesteban, about 10 miles south of the border with France, and cordoned off the area before the explosion, the ministry told The Associated Press. There was no immediate word on the extent of damage.

The ministry didn't name any suspects. But the Basque newspaper Gara said it had received a warning of the bomb from a caller claiming to represent the separatist group ETA, which is battling for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwest France.

ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s as part of its drive for an independent state. The government says ETA has been severely weakened by arrests in recent years.