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Resort in lockdown as police find another bomb
Justin Davenport in Majorca31 Jul 2009
There was shock and confusion on Majorca after the terror bombing. The normally bustling seaside town of Palmanova was in lockdown and streets that are usually full of holidaymakers were eerily quiet.
Police sealed off roads leading to Palmanova and Magaluf as cars and taxis were banned from leaving the resort. The only vehicles on the streets were police cars and the red trucks of the bomb disposal squads.
Many holidaymakers were left wheeling suitcases along the road in a search for a taxi to the airport for a return flight home. As I spoke to tourists five and half hours after a bomb killed two police officers in a patrol car outside the El Foc barracks a second blast shook the resort. A controlled explosion had been carried out on a bomb found outside a police house. There were unconfirmed reports last night of a third bomb being found in the town.
Lisa Rees, 41, and Paul Price, 51, from South Wales, heard the first bomb explode as they were having lunch on their hotel terrace.
Ms Rees said: "Suddenly there was a loud bang and black smoke and everyone started running up the beach. It was a horrible sound. But we noticed more police around before the bomb, people seemed to know something was going to happen."
At the Three Brothers bar, Alexandre Buchan, 46, told how she heard the blast as she sat on the beach. "There was a bang and people started running. I suppose people were running to see what had happened or were trying to help. I am from Belfast and I knew it was an explosion," she said. "I have been coming here for the past 10 years and nothing like this has happened before."
Brian Morris, 55, from South Wales, said: "I am shaken up by it. I was planning to go for a walk where the bomb exploded this evening. You don't know whether you should stick to the promenades in future."
