Spanish police arrested 13 people suspected of having links to Basque separatist group ETA before dawn Wednesday as part of a new crackdown on western Europe’s most active guerrilla force, officials said. Police swooped on suspects in the troubled Basque country and in next-door Navarre, a province claimed by separatists as Basque, as part of a new anti-ETA operation lead by High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon. “These 13 detainees formed part of a core being rebuilt by the new leadership of the terrorist group ETA,” Interior Minister Angel Acebes told reporters. “(ETA commanders) have been trying to rebuild a support base for the terrorist organization of people with various degrees of involvement and various duties,” he added. In recent months, police in France and Spain have arrested dozens of ETA suspects, including members Spain labels leaders. Police sources said leads to the arrests had come from suspected ETA military commander Ibon Fernandez who was arrested last December in France but then bolted two days later. The arrests came after police Tuesday defused a bomb in the Basque country packed with screws and seven kg (15 pounds) of explosives. Full Story
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