Basque Rebels Hit 7 Cities in Spain

MADRID —  The Basque separatist group ETA set off bombs Monday in seven cities across Spain, slightly wounding five people as it escalated its renewed fight for independence on the day Spaniards celebrate their unity.

The outlawed group called in warnings minutes before the simultaneous blasts on Constitution Day to allow police to clear cafes and public squares.

It was the second set of bombings in four days. The small bombs hit the cities of Alicante, Avila, Ciudad Real, Leon, Malaga, Santillana del Mar and Valladolid, which run from the far north to the extreme south of Spain.

The wounded included a 7-year-old girl.

On Friday, coordinated ETA bombings at five Madrid gas stations marked the first attack on the capital in two years and ETA’s most significant strike after months of relative inactivity.

ETA, Western Europe’s most active armed militant group, is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union. It has killed nearly 850 people since 1968 in a bombing and shooting campaign for Basque independence from Spain and France. It has not been responsible for any fatal attacks for 18 months.

One targeted city, Leon, is the hometown of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. His predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar, hails from Valladolid.

None of Monday’s blasts were in Spain’s Basque Country, which is made up of three provinces in the north that Basque nationalists see as part of their homeland, which also includes three provinces in France.