THE PROBLEM when a terrorist group which has been severely weakened by relentless police and judicial action is offered a negotiation, as Zapatero has offered ETA -and after getting an approval for it in Parliament with 'yes' votes from the Socialist party and it's leftist parliamentary allies, and the 'no' vote from the Popular Party-, is that it gives the terrorist an incentive to try to get an even better hand before sitting at the table. Ten days ago it was four bombs; last weekend it was two more.

Today's it's been a car bomb in Madrid's center:

A car bomb exploded in the Spanish capital on Wednesday, injuring three people, 45 minutes after a Basque newspaper received a warning in the name of Basque separatist group ETA, police said.

Police sealed off the area in the San Blas district of northeastern Madrid where the bomb exploded and smoke could be seen rising into the air.

The warning gave police time to clear the area before the explosion, according to state radio, but emergency officials said three people were slightly injured.

The blast appeared to be an act of defiance from ETA after a vote by the Spanish Parliament last week to grant the government permission to open peace talks with the group if it laid down its arms.

More updated information in the Spanish press (link in Spanish): it's 53 injured in total, though only 5 required hospitalization; and the bomb went off 15 minutes before it was supposed to according to the call warning of the explosion. That's very usual for ETA bastards, and it has costed several lives from police in the past when they were still cordoning the area. Sometimes they have warned of the right time, but failed to mention the "detail" that there's a second one meant to explode 15-30 minutes later, catching them off guard.

UPDATE. Minor edits in last paragraph correcting some grammar errors and for clarity (I guess there'll be more mistakes, but I'll have to live with it!)

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