MOSCOW, July 30 (RIA Novosti) - Spanish security services closed down the airport and all sea ports on the resort island of Majorca on Thursday following a terrorist attack that killed two policemen, the El Mundo newspaper said.
A bomb attached to the underside of a police patrol car went off outside a police barracks in the town of Palma Nova at 2:00 p.m. (13:00 GMT).
"Following the afternoon attack in the Calvia municipality, the security services have launched Operation Jaula (Cage) to close the island of Majorca and prevent the escape of terrorists," the paper quoted local authorities as saying.
The site of the blast is located 10 kilometers from the summer residence of the Spanish royal family, the Marivent Palace. King Juan Carlos was scheduled to arrive at the palace on August 1.
Spanish authorities say the militant Basque separatist organization ETA is likely to be behind the bombing, as well as Wednesday's attack in northern Spain.
Sixty-five people, including two pregnant women and six children, were injured when a truck exploded in the city of Burgos early on Wednesday. However, no one was killed.
ETA, founded in 1959 and set to mark its 50th anniversary on July 31, is recognized as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. The group is known to have killed over 820 people in the past 50 years while fighting for an independent Basque state.
However, ETA usually gives advance warning of its attacks to avoid unnecessary casualties. There were no such warnings prior to recent terrorist attacks.
Pavel Zolotorev, deputy director of the Moscow-based Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies, told RIA Novosti on Thursday that the recent terrorist attacks in Spain could be attributed to covert hostile actions of foreign intelligence services.
"I do not believe the terrorist attacks are connected with the 50th anniversary of ETA. It looks like covert operations conducted by foreign intelligence," Zolotorev said.
"I am certain that the Basque separatists do not need these terrorist attacks if they really want to gain independence. ETA has never been blood-thirsty."
The analyst said security and intelligence services in certain countries sometimes act without proper control from the state, and use their ties with criminal and terrorist organizations to accomplish certain goals.
"Something is brewing around Spain, but it is hard to guess why it is happening now," Zolotarev said, adding that the perpetrators of the attacks in Spain could be using the ETA anniversary to cast suspicions on the Basque separatists.
