Jun 23, 2009, 10:40 GMT
Madrid/San Sebastian - Spanish police Tuesday foiled eventual attacks by the militant Basque separatist group ETA, detaining three suspects and seizing more than 75 kilogrammes of explosives, senior security official Antonio Camacho said.
'The cell had not yet began its terrorist activity,' but it already had all it would have needed to stage attacks, Camacho said in Madrid.
Police seized explosives, fuses and other materials for making bombs. The materials were confiscated at addresses in four Basque localities.
Two of the detainees, a man and a woman, were being held at an industrial warehouse where they were living in Usurbil. Another woman was held in Astigarraga.
Camacho denied initial reports that the detainees were involved in attacks against the construction of a high-speed railway in the Basque region.
The arrests followed a bombing which killed police officer Eduardo Puelles in the Basque region last week. However, the detainees did not appear to have been involved in that killing, Camacho said.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated Saturday against the killing of Puelles, the first by ETA this year.
Forty-four people have been held for links with ETA so far in 2009.
ETA, which is regarded as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, has killed more than 820 people since 1968.
The group seeks an independent Basque country of more than 2 million residents created out of northern Spain and southern France.
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