A car bomb linked to Basque separatist group ETA exploded early on Saturday in central Madrid, injuring up to 15 people a day before bitterly contested elections in the northern Basque region.
An anonymous caller in the name of ETA made a warning telephone call to authorities eight minutes before the explosion, Spain's Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy said.
The bomb went off in one of the Spanish capital's busiest roads, Goya Street, and a security guard was in a serious but not life-threatening condition, Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters at the scene.
“It could have been a massacre,” Rajoy said, adding between 10 and 15 people were being treated for mostly light injuries.
A Reuters reporter at the scene saw the twisted remains of a car scattered over the street and facade of a bank ripped away.
“The buildings shook, I thought they were going to fall down,” said a man who was nearby at the time of the explosion.
The bomb went off virtually on the stroke of midnight, when campaigning for Sunday's Basque parliamentary elections officially ended -- MADRID (Reuters)
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