Police investigate Basque explosive find

04 January 2007 17:09

Police in Spain's Basque region are reported to have found a car packed with explosives, five days after a bomb attack at Madrid airport claimed by the Basque separatist group ETA.

The vehicle contained 100kg of explosives and police said it had apparently been abandoned following the 23 December discovery of a cache of detonators and explosives in the northern Basque region of Amorebieta.

The development came as Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he was 'more determined than ever' to stamp out violence after visiting the scene of Saturday's bomb blast.

One man was killed in the blast and a second is still missing and presumed dead.

The attack came after a nine month long ceasefire by ETA.

Batasuna, ETA's political wing, said in a statement that it 'deeply regretted' the death of an Ecuadoran man in the bombing in Madrid.

The group, while failing to condemn the blast, also offered its 'sincere condolences' to the family and friends of the dead man.