ETA claims responsibility for Spain blasts

SEVILLE, Spain (CNN) -- The Basque separatist group ETA took responsibility for two bombings in Spain Saturday, as European Union leaders closed their weekend summit in Seville.

Saturday's blasts bring to five the number of bombings in Spain since Friday. Nine people have been wounded, but only one seriously -- a British man who was in critical condition after a bombing Friday in Fuengirola.

ETA has been criticized for targeting tourist resorts -- three of the five car bombs were in southern Spain.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar condemned the attacks, which he said were aimed at diverting attention from the EU meetings.

The summit included leaders from the EU's 15 member nations, as well as leaders from 13 nations who hope to join the organization. (Summit agreement)

IN-DEPTH Basque conflict: Violence in Spain

The summit marked the end of Spain's six-month tenure as president of the union. Denmark will now take over the EU presidency.

After the meeting concluded, thousands of anti-globalization protesters paraded peacefully through the streets of Seville amid a heavy police presence, denouncing global economic policy.

Organizers said they expected 100,000 protesters, but government officials said only 20,000 people participated. One person who was caught breaking glass was arrested, local officials said.

On Saturday afternoon, a package bomb exploded in the parking lot of a resort hotel about 100 miles south of Seville, in Spain's heavily visited Costa del Sol along the Mediterranean Sea.

The ETA, as it did with the other bombings, issued a warning call before the blast, and a government spokesman said police evacuated the hotel before the explosion. No one was injured.

A few hours later, a car bomb exploded in the northern port city of Santander, about 550 miles north of the Costa del Sol. One person was slightly injured and a dozen vehicles damaged, authorities said.

On Friday, the ETA claimed responsibility for two car bombings in the Costa del Sol region -- one at a hotel in Fuengirola that injured six people and another blast in the nearby city of Marbella, in which no one was injured.

Friday night, a car bomb exploded outside a department store in the north-central city of Zaragoza, injuring two security guards.

Earlier this month, Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy said the ETA was aiming attacks along the coast to damage Spain's lucrative tourist industry and "create a sensation of chaos" before the EU summit.

Some analysts have linked the explosions to Aznar's attempts to outlaw a political party accused of being the political wing of ETA. The party denies any such link.

The bill was passed recently and goes before the senate shortly.

Other commentators see the explosions as ETA taking the chance to show it is still "alive and kicking."

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters in Seville that three British citizens and two children were among those injured on Friday.

A Moroccan child and a Spanish man and woman were also hurt.

Straw expressed "profound concern and anger" over the attacks, and Aznar expressed his regret to British Prime Minister Tony Blair over the injuries to British nationals, an aide to Aznar told reporters.

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has killed more than 800 people over the last four decades in its violent campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France. The ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU and the United States.

ETA last year warned tourists to stay away from Spain's Mediterranean coast and detonated car bombs at Salou and Roses, near Barcelona.

It also attacked Malaga's international airport, which serves many of the 1 million tourists who visit the Costa del Sol each year.

Friday's attacks came a week after police found explosives, along with boxes of detonators and wiring, in a wooded area on the coast near Valencia.

-- Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman contributed to this report.