AFP/Madrid

A bus was attacked with petrol bombs in the northern Spanish town of Durango on Saturday night, officials said yesterday, the second such incident in two days in the Basque region.

Masked attackers - believed by the authorities to be Basque separatists - armed with metal bars and baseball bats forced around 20 passengers from the bus before setting it alight.

The incident came hours after a major demonstration in the town of San Sebastian protesting against the arrest of a number of militant separatists.

A spokesman for the Basque regional interior ministry said: “Around 3.45am (0145 GMT), around a dozen masked people armed with baseball bats and metal bars got on a bus carrying around 20 passengers. They made everyone get off and set the vehicle on fire.

“Petrol bombs thrown into the bus caused major damage, but no-one was injured.”

On Friday night, a bus was attacked with petrol bombs in Bilbao, and a similar incident caused serious damage to three banks in the town of Ondarroa.

Thousands of people took to the streets of San Sebastian on Saturday to protest against the arrest of 10 militant separatists, including Arnaldo Ortegi, the leader of Batasuna, the banned political arm of ETA.

Violent attacks in towns, “kale borroka” in the Basque language, are common in the Basque region and Navarra, and are blamed on young pro-independence radicals thought by the Spanish to support the armed separatist group ETA.