Bomb defused at Spanish bourse

BILBAO, Spain (CNN) -- A large bomb has been defused at Bilbao's Stock Exchange after a warning that it would explode in 20 minutes was telephoned to a newspaper.

The calls in the name of Basque separatist group ETA were made at 10:30 a.m. local time (0930 GMT) on Monday to a leftist Basque newspaper, Gara, and a roadside emergency service, DIA, which then contacted the police.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the building and the Bolsa de Bilbao exchange was closed. A 16-kilo (35lb) bomb was later found lodged against a gas container in the men's toilets.

Nobody was injured in the incident, police told CNN.

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The Bilbao exchange is among four stock exchanges in Spain, the largest being in Madrid which carries the bulk of daily trading.

Earlier on Monday, ETA, blamed for about 800 killings in its long fight for independence, was also blamed for placing a device that appeared to contain explosives outside the home of a well-known former union leader, Nicolas Redondo Urbieta.

The device in the end was not primed to explode. No group has claimed responsibility for that incident, which occurred near Bilbao.