ETA has been blamed for a car bombing that’s left a police inspector dead.

A cloud of black smoke and flames poured from the car shortly after the attack this morning. The device exploded, destroying several other vehicles, just after nine o’clock CET in a car park in Bilbao’s Santa Isabel district. The victim has been identified as Eduardo Puelles. His wife was unhurt but is being treated for shock. The head of the Basque regional government, Patxi Lopez, condemned the attack and warned the militant Basque separatist group “wouldn’t have a second of peace” and that all measures would be used in order for the perpertrators to feel the full weight of justice and the law. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, which would be ETA’s first killing this year, but such bombings have regularly been carried out by the armed Basque group. It comes just days after ETA said it was behind five attacks committed since the start of the year, including one aimed at killing police officers. ETA has been hard hit by arrests of a string of its top leaders. In April, police arrested its suspected top commander Jurdan Martitegi, bringing to four the number of commanders caught in less than a year.

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