Post by Bozur on Feb 26, 2005 18:43:31 GMT -5
World - Reuters
Spain Arrests ETA Suspects, Seizes Explosives
Thu Feb 17,10:18 AM ET World - Reuters
By Andrea Comas
VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) - Spanish police arrested two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA in Valencia on Thursday, seizing explosives that they planned to use for imminent attacks, the government said.
The operation in the Mediterranean city came hours after authorities published purported letters from ETA's alleged leader in which he ordered operatives to "start killing people as soon as possible."
"Spanish police have arrested two people in Valencia, a man and a woman, who are suspected members of ETA. They have seized a pistol ... explosives and documents," Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told reporters during a visit to Morocco.
The ministry named the detainees as Mikel Orbegozo Etxarri, born in 1969, and Sara Majarenas Ibarreta, born in 1980.
"They formed part of an ETA terrorist cell that was going to carry out attacks imminently," it said in a statement.
Spaniards vote on Sunday in a referendum on a European Union constitution. ETA often stages attacks to coincide with major events, and rejects the constitution because it does not recognize a Basque nation.
Police officers grew suspicious of Orbegozo and Majarenas when they spotted them near Valencia's city hall, and arrested them after a chase.
In their room at a nearby hostel, police found 25 cartridges each containing 100 grams of explosive, as well as 350 grams of dynamite, a limpet mine, detonators, a pistol and documents on possible targets such as businessmen, politicians, local authorities and security forces, the ministry said.
"END OF VIOLENCE"
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Thursday that ETA's destiny was "the end of violence," and firmly denied speculation that his Socialist government may have had contacts with the outlawed group.
"ETA knows very well that it will only be listened to ... if the noise of bombs and pistols stops," he said on state radio.
Hours before the Valencia operation, a suspected ETA guerrilla was remanded in custody in Madrid on suspicion of plotting to shoot King Juan Carlos.
Another suspected ETA member was kept in jail pending further investigation for helping the first suspect plot to kill several Basque politicians, a court order said.
Letters seized from the suspects indicated that an ETA leader was eager to kill a policeman to lift morale in the group, which has been weakened by a sustained police clampdown.
"We have to start killing people as soon as possible ... With the situation we are in, it would be fantastic and give us strength," said the letter, purportedly written in France by ETA's current leader, Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, alias "Txeroki" (Cherokee).
ETA, listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in a bombing and shooting campaign for an independent Basque state in the north of Spain and the southwest of France. No one has been killed in its attacks since May 2003.
Spain Arrests ETA Suspects, Seizes Explosives
Thu Feb 17,10:18 AM ET World - Reuters
By Andrea Comas
VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) - Spanish police arrested two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA in Valencia on Thursday, seizing explosives that they planned to use for imminent attacks, the government said.
The operation in the Mediterranean city came hours after authorities published purported letters from ETA's alleged leader in which he ordered operatives to "start killing people as soon as possible."
"Spanish police have arrested two people in Valencia, a man and a woman, who are suspected members of ETA. They have seized a pistol ... explosives and documents," Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told reporters during a visit to Morocco.
The ministry named the detainees as Mikel Orbegozo Etxarri, born in 1969, and Sara Majarenas Ibarreta, born in 1980.
"They formed part of an ETA terrorist cell that was going to carry out attacks imminently," it said in a statement.
Spaniards vote on Sunday in a referendum on a European Union constitution. ETA often stages attacks to coincide with major events, and rejects the constitution because it does not recognize a Basque nation.
Police officers grew suspicious of Orbegozo and Majarenas when they spotted them near Valencia's city hall, and arrested them after a chase.
In their room at a nearby hostel, police found 25 cartridges each containing 100 grams of explosive, as well as 350 grams of dynamite, a limpet mine, detonators, a pistol and documents on possible targets such as businessmen, politicians, local authorities and security forces, the ministry said.
"END OF VIOLENCE"
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Thursday that ETA's destiny was "the end of violence," and firmly denied speculation that his Socialist government may have had contacts with the outlawed group.
"ETA knows very well that it will only be listened to ... if the noise of bombs and pistols stops," he said on state radio.
Hours before the Valencia operation, a suspected ETA guerrilla was remanded in custody in Madrid on suspicion of plotting to shoot King Juan Carlos.
Another suspected ETA member was kept in jail pending further investigation for helping the first suspect plot to kill several Basque politicians, a court order said.
Letters seized from the suspects indicated that an ETA leader was eager to kill a policeman to lift morale in the group, which has been weakened by a sustained police clampdown.
"We have to start killing people as soon as possible ... With the situation we are in, it would be fantastic and give us strength," said the letter, purportedly written in France by ETA's current leader, Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, alias "Txeroki" (Cherokee).
ETA, listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in a bombing and shooting campaign for an independent Basque state in the north of Spain and the southwest of France. No one has been killed in its attacks since May 2003.