ETA was blamed for more than 800 deaths

Five small explosive devices detonated yesterday at Madrid gas stations after a telephone warning from the armed Basque separatist group &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/27/31246_.html ' target=_blank>ETA, reports said. Spanish Interior Ministry officials said there were no injuries and only minor damage, the news agency Efe said, adding the gas stations were evacuated before the blasts.

Earlier, the Basque newspaper Gara said it had received a call from a person speaking on behalf of ETA who said five explosive devices had been placed at gas stations on major highways leading out of Madrid, wrote London Free Press.

ETA has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in a bombing and shooting campaign for Basque independence from &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2003/01/28/42649.html ' target=_blank>Spain and France, though it has not killed anyone for 18 months.

The outlawed group has been weakened by a police crackdown in Spain and France that has rounded up more than 100 ETA suspects this year, including its top leadership.

Friday's attacks slightly wounded two police officers and snarled traffic for hours as Madrid people left the capital for a long holiday weekend.

ETA forewarned of the blasts with a telephone call, allowing police to evacuate the five bomb sites.