Politician killed in Spanish bar

MADRID, Spain -- A Socialist party politician has died after being shot in a bar in northern Spain on Thursday, police say.

The killing, which happened in Orio at 2 p.m. (1300 GMT), bears the hallmark of previous attacks by the armed separatist group ETA.

Local councillor Juan Priede Perez, 67, was shot at point blank range by two men, CNN Plus reported. He died later from his injuries.

Perez, who had received threats in the past, had just been escorted home by his bodyguards before he went to the nearby bar for lunch, The Associated Press said.

The two alleged assailants fled in a car driven by a third person who was waiting outside the premises, the news agency added.

A widower, Perez was father to three children, police said.

Gemma Zabaleta, a Socialist Basque Parliament member and friend of Perez, said: "This man (Perez) did nothing but work for his people and for this reason they murdered him."

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

ETA has been blamed for wounding 12 people this year, including a January car bomb in downtown Bilbao, the largest Basque city.

If confirmed to be ETA's responsibility, Perez's death would be the group's first fatality this year.

ETA, which was recently listed by the European Union as a terrorist organisation, has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in its drive for Basque independence.

It has targeted local Basque politicians, judges and security officials.

Earlier this month police defused a bomb planted at the Bilbao stock exchange in the name of ETA.

Another was found the same day outside the home of a Socialist leader in Vizcaya.