Travel chaos descended upon the Costa del Sol yesterday in the search for three ETA bombs.
Six-mile traffic jams built up around Malaga Airport on Sunday as police closed its access road while they searched for a bomb placed on the nearby motorway by the Basque separatist group.
Two other bombs – one by the Tryp Hotel in Guadalmar near Torremolinos and one at a beach at Benalmadena Port – exploded in the early and mid-afternoon.
Although no-one was injured, more than 10,000 holiday makers were evacuated from both areas as well as the nearby beaches of Malapesquera and Fuente de la Salud, as police searched for the bombs.
Others found themselves confined to their hotels as the region ground to a halt.
Police have been on high alert for ETA attacks in the Andalusia area in southern Spain after they arrested members of the terrorist group last month and found evidence that a number of attacks were being planned in the region.
ETA last month blew up a small bomb on a beach in Torremolinos. Local authorities also blamed the group for four small explosions in holiday resorts on Spain’s northern coast.