Interior councilor rules out bomb was trap against Basque police

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Basque Government's Interior Councillor. Photo: EFE

Basque Government's Interior Councilor Javier Balza ruled out that ETA's attack against an office of the socialist party in La Peña district in Bilbao was a trap against the Basque police and remarked the attack's target was the socialist office.

"There is an ETA cell preparing this kind of attcks in the Basque Country" and "the risk is high" until they are arrested, Balza told the Basque radio station Radio Euskadi.

Balza said that a police patrol in the area had already spotted a suspicious package outside the Socialist party building around 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) and had begun evacuating residents from the area.

The Basque Government's Interior Councilor said the evacuation took longer than expected because they had to evacuate "old people, children, people who were in their houses sleeping at this time".

"The houses are badly damaged. In the end, it's the people who suffer the madness of the terrorists," Balza said upset.