READER KEN SHOTWELL emails to ask why I haven't written anything about the five bomb blasts in Madrid's gas stations yesterday. Actually I was away almost for the whole day, came back late and headed right to bed without turning on the TV nor the computer, so I learned about it this morning. Today I'm catching up with my reading, and fortunately I don't have too much to add to the media accounts of the incident. I'm writing fortunately since this means that the blasts caused only minor injuries to a couple of policemen who had been dispatched after a warning that detonations were going to occur was phoned in to a newspaper. Here's the London Times about this:

ETA, the Basque separatist organisation, detonated five small bombs in Madrid last night, signalling that, despite recent setbacks, it was not yet ready to renounce violence.

The bombs exploded without causing serious injury at five petrol stations located on key exit roads from northern Madrid yesterday and caused traffic chaos at the start of a long holiday weekend. One policeman was slightly hurt.

The Basque newspaper Gara in San Sebastián received a telephoned warning at 5.30pm in the name of Eta naming the location of the devices on the outskirts of the capital.

Police had time to move people out four of the petrol stations before the bombs, which were placed in rubbish bins, exploded at 6.30pm.

The given location of the fifth bomb proved to be wrong, but when it blew up no one was hurt.

The immediate effect of these bombs is that it spells the end of the hope that ETA would put the arms down, a rumor that was starting to get some traction even though, in the past, ETA killers have declared truces a couple of times in the past but actually more than a real truce it was more like an Islamic hudna, since they used the period to regroup and rearm:

Only last month, Batasuna, Eta’s political wing, had hinted at a possible truce during a meeting in San Sebastián, but the Government dismissed the statements as propaganda.

Eta has called truces in the past when its apparatus has been severely weakened — as is now the case — but has previously used the breathing space to regroup and re-arm.