Bomb found in Pamplona hotel
From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish police have deactivated a powerful bomb in a Pamplona hotel they say was placed by the Basque separatist group ETA.
The hotel was filled with visitors attending the annual San Fermin Fiesta which includes the famed running of the bulls, authorities said. No one was injured.
Police evacuated the 138-room Hotel Maisonnave and nearby apartment buildings after receiving a phone call on Sunday warning them of the bomb. They found the 4 kilogram explosive device in a women's bathroom at the hotel, a government statement said.
Police traced the call to a phone booth in the city of Estella, the statement said.
The hotel resumed normal operations Sunday evening.
Police received a previous warning call on Saturday, in which someone claiming to be with ETA said there was an explosive device at the hotel. A bomb squad searched then but did not find any explosives.
The caller on Saturday said the hotel was targeted because it had not paid a "revolutionary tax," according to the government statement. Authorities say that "tax" refers to the ETA's extortion of businesses.
ETA, or Euskadi Ta Askatasuna -- which means Basque Homeland and Freedom in the Basque language -- has claimed responsibility for more than 800 killings during a 35-year campaign for independence of the Basque region of northern Spain.
The group routinely threatens to harm businesses if they do not give ETA money, which the group then uses to finance future attacks, authorities said.
Pamplona is the capital of Navarra province, one of the four northern Spanish provinces with Basque roots that ETA seeks as part of its Basque homeland. The group also wants a section of southwest France.
