New ETA arms cache found in southern France (Roundup)

Aug 20, 2009, 13:10 GMT

Madrid - Police Thursday found a new arms cache of the militant Basque separatist group ETA in southern France, Spanish police sources said.

The discovery of the cache, which was believed to contain a large amount of explosives, followed that of another hiding place containing 100 kilograms of explosives near the Spanish border on Wednesday.

The discoveries were made after the arrests of three people suspected of supplying ETA with arms and explosives in the French Alps on Wednesday.

The new cache was located in Camplong in France's Mediterranean Herault department, police said.

It contained explosives, two revolvers, 2,000 cartridges, 83 detonators and 450 metres of fuse.

The other cache had been located in the Pyrenees following the detention of ETA's suspected logistics chief Aitzol Etxaburu, Alberto Machain and Andoni Sarasola.

Machain was among the six most wanted ETA members whose pictures were distributed by the Spanish Interior Ministry following bombings that injured about 65 people in the northern city of Burgos and killed two police officers on Majorca in late July.

However, police now thought it unlikely that the three detainees were linked to the recent bombings, the daily El Mundo quoted police sources as saying.

Police believed that Etxaburu's predecessors had given orders to the bombers, according to the daily.

ETA, which seeks an independent Basque state comprising parts of what is now northern Spain and southern France, is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.