French police discover network of ETA arms caches (2nd Roundup)

Aug 21, 2009, 14:46 GMT

Madrid - French police have discovered a network of arms caches of the militant Basque separatist group ETA in the south of the country, Spanish police sources said Friday.

At least two more arms caches were found on Friday, bringing the total to at least five since Wednesday.

The new hiding places were located in Ferrals-les-Montagnes and Herault in the south-east. They contained 15 pistols and a bomb ready for use, police said. Some media reported the discovery of a third cache.

The discoveries followed those of three other arms caches on Thursday and Wednesday after the arrest in the French Alps of three ETA suspects who were believed to have supplied the group with weapons and explosives.

One of the caches, located in Camplong, held materials to make more than 100 bombs which could be attached to the underside of vehicles, according to the daily El Pais.

That method was used to kill three Spanish police officers in the Basque region and Majorca this summer.

ETA had clearly been planning a long string of attacks, police sources were quoted as saying.

Previously, a cache discovered in the Pyrenees was found to contain 100 kilograms of explosives.

Four people were meanwhile reported injured in clashes between police and separatist demonstrators in the Spanish Basque city of Bilbao, after the regional government prohibited a rally planned for Friday.

The regional authorities are trying to corner the entourage of ETA since Patxi Lopez became the region's first clearly pro-Spanish prime minister in May.

ETA has killed more than 820 people since 1968 in its campaign for an independent Basque homeland. The group is regarded as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.