Madrid - A car-bomb attack linked to the Basque separatist group ETA was avoided yesterday when a detonator failed to trigger explosives packed into a car on a busy street in Madrid, officials said.
An estimated 30 to 40kg of dynamite was discovered in the vehicle, which caught fire when the detonator went off without causing an explosion.
A Spanish Interior Ministry spokesman said the dynamite was part of eight tonnes of explosives stolen in France in 1999 by suspected ETA activists.
A second explosion an hour later in a nearby area of the city destroyed another vehicle, which could have been a getaway car used by the suspected ETA members after planting the first bomb, a police spokeswoman said.