Spanish police: Bomb found in Basque area

updated 11:45 a.m. ET Jan. 4, 2007

MADRID, Spain - Police in the Basque region said Thursday they had found a bomb in northern Spain, five days after a car bombing in Madrid that was blamed on the separatist group ETA and killed one person.

Nearly 220 pounds of explosives were found in a drum near an abandoned car outside the Basque town of Amorebieta, and they were rigged to be used in an attack, a spokesman for the Basque police said.

On Dec. 23 police found an arms cache near Amorebieta with around 120 pounds of explosives.

The Basque interior department said the explosives found Thursday were ready for "immediate" use and only lacked a detonator.

Police searching the area noticed the car had been parked for several days, and upon examining it found suspicious stains inside. They expanded their search and found the drum with the explosives, the department said.

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