ETA warns of more bombs in Spain's Navarre region

MADRID, Mar 15 (Reuters) A caller claiming to represent Basque separatists ETA warned that the group had planted three bombs in the northern Spanish region of Navarre, the regional government said today.

ETA has detonated a series of small bombs in recent months, usually preceded by telephone warnings so that police had time to clear the areas and avoid injuries.

Today's call to the Navarre emergency services said there were bombs on two motorways and in a court building in the regional capital Pamplona, the local government said in a statement.

The building had been evacuated and police were searching for explosives along the two motorways, a spokesman said. The caller did not give a time for the bombs to explode.

Last Thursday, ETA planted five small bombs in the Basque Country, coinciding with a strike called by Batasuna, the political party banned for its links with ETA.

ETA has killed 850 people since 1968 in its fight to carve out an independent Basque state straddling northern Spain and southwestern France.

The group, branded a terrorist group by the European Union and United States, has not killed anybody since 2003.

REUTERS HS PM1458