Car bomb at Madrid airport

Police had cleared the area after receiving a bomb warning

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- The armed separatist group ETA is suspected of being behind a car bomb which exploded at Madrid's airport on Monday.

The bomb was placed in a white Renault 19 vehicle left in a car park for Terminal 2 which carries mainly domestic flights but also some European destinations.

CNN's Al Goodman said a man, claiming to speak on behalf of ETA, had phoned authorities an hour before the explosion giving details of the bomb's location.

VIDEO Basque separatist group, ETA, claims responsibility for a blast in Madrid. CNN's Al Goodman reports (August 27) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    IN-DEPTH Basque conflict: Violence in Spain   • Overview   • Living in fear   • Standing vigil   • ETA background   • Q&A on ETA   • ETA timeline   • Map: Violence   • Video archive   • Recent stories

A police spokesman told Reuters: "A car apparently parked by ETA exploded at just after 0800 a.m. (0600 GMT) in the airport's car park."

Police cordoned off the area after the explosion causing traffic delays on airport approach roads but an airport official told Reuters news agency that flights had continued taking off and landing normally.

No injuries have been reported from the Madrid explosion.

ETA warned in March that it would target the tourist industry, which generates about$60 billion a year, or 10 percent of Spain's gross domestic product.

Hours after the Madrid airport bomb a man was arrested in Malaga -- the scene of another airport bomb this summer -- on suspicion of being an ETA member, Reuters news agency reported.

ETA was blamed for a car bomb placed at the busy southern Malaga airport in July, which prompted an evacuation of travellers before police finally defused the bomb.

A car bomb in the Mediterranean resort of Salou earlier this month was also blamed on the Basque group.

In both cases telephone calls from people claiming to represent ETA allowed police to evacuate the buildings.

The Madrid blast comes after three big police strikes against ETA during the past week in which 14 suspected group members were arrested and a large amount of dynamite seized.

Interior minister Mariano Rajoy had hoped the police crackdown might have thwarted car bombings of tourist sites in Catalonia, the coastal Mediterranean region around Barcelona popular among European holiday-makers.

Spanish police blew up a car they suspected had been packed with explosives in Barcelona on Sunday.

ETA, an acronym for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has been blamed for 35 killings since ending an unilateral 14-month cease-fire in January 2000.

The organisation is fighting for an independent state in Basque-speaking areas in Spain and southern France.