THIRTEEN people were hurt yesterday as Basque terror group Eta launched its summer offensive by bombing two hotels along Spain's Mediterranean coast.

The blasts happened within minutes of each other in the Costa Blanca resorts of Benidorm and Alicante, as thousands of tourists sunbathed on nearby beaches.

One bomb was left in a suitcase, the other in a bag in first- floor rooms in the two-star hotels.

One of the injured - who included several tourists - was British student Ellie Carr, who needed 20 stitches to wounds to her head, arm and side.

The bombs were left in Benidorm's Hotel Nadal and the Hotel Residencia Bahia in Alicante.

The midday attacks came after a telephone call warning of the locations and time of the attacks. Both areas were evacuated but the Benidorm blast happened 20 minutes earlier than expected.

The Costa Blanca is a popular destination for holiday makers from the North-East and North Yorkshire - with dozens of scheduled and charter flights heading to Alicante from Newcastle, Teesside and Leeds-Bradford airports each week.

Ms Carr, 20, from Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk, was studying Spanish in a school close to the Alicante hotel.

Speaking from hospital, she said: "There was this massive explosion and the whole building fell in around us. I was covered in blood."

The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Martin Morgan, who was only 40 yards away from the Benidorm explosion, said: "There was a huge bang followed by clouds of smoke. The next thing I saw was people running up from the beach."

A spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents said: "British tourists do not seem to be put off by these incidents, but we would urge people to be careful and heed any advice they are given."

Eta has been blamed for more than 800 deaths in its 30-year campaign to create an independent Basque homeland.

A young girl and a 50-year-old man died last August when a 120lb car bomb exploded at the Costa Blanca resort of Santa Pola.