A car bomb injured at least 34 people in the Spanish capital this morning in an apparent rebuff by Basque separatist guerrillas ETA to government peace overtures.
Spanish policemen inspect the area in search for clues after a car bomb exploded in Madrid
The bomb, in a stolen car, blew up in an industrial zone in northeastern Madrid 45 minutes after a Basque newspaper received a warning in the name of ETA, officials said.
The warning gave police time to seal off the area, but dozens were hurt by flying glass or the force of the blast.
Black smoke rose into the air as fire engines and police vehicles blocked the street in the San Blas district. The blast wrecked about five cars and smashed windows in nearby buildings, including an Opel car dealership, witnesses and news reports said.
An emergency services spokeswoman told state radio that 34 people had been treated so far, mostly for cuts and hearing damage, but only one required hospital treatment. Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said the bomb was estimated to contain between 18 and 20 kgs of explosives, he said.
The blast appeared to be a defiant response by ETA to a vote by the Spanish Parliament last week granting the government permission to open peace talks with the group if it laid down its arms.
The bomb came two days after French police detained three suspected ETA members and hours before two leaders of Batasuna, banned as the political wing of ETA, were due to appear in a Madrid court to answer charges of belonging to ETA.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero condemned the bombing as an "act of terror". "The terrorist group ETA's only fate is to give up its arms and disband," he told the Spanish Senate.
ETA has killed nearly 850 people since 1968 in a bombing and shooting campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.