French police find still more ETA arms caches (Roundup)

Aug 25, 2009, 13:08 GMT

Madrid - French police on Tuesday found two more arms caches of the militant Basque separatist group ETA, bringing the total to 12 in six days and the amount of seized explosives to nearly a ton, Spanish police sources said.

The network of arms caches was discovered in southern France following the capture of three ETA suspects in the French Alps on Wednesday.

Most of the caches were located near small villages in the south-east.

One of the two caches found on Tuesday, located in Cabrerolles in Herault department, contained 190 kilograms of explosives, bringing the total confiscated by police to about 900 kilograms.

Police also seized 124 detonators, two pistols, a machine gun, virgin car registration plates, documents and munition.

The other cache, in Tarn department, held non-military materials, such as clothes and wrapping materials.

Previously discovered caches contained material for making dozens of bombs which can be attached to vehicles.

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

The discovery of the arms caches was thought to have reduced, but not eliminated, ETA's capacity to carry out further attacks.

The caches were discovered with the help of documents seized from ETA's suspected logistics chief Aitzol Etxaburu and two others who were arrested in France's Savoy region on Wednesday.

The three were believed to have been responsible for supplying ETA with weapons and explosives.

ETA, which marks its 50th anniversary this year, seeks an independent Basque homeland created out of northern Spain and southern France.

The group, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, is held responsible for more than 820 killings since it launched an armed campaign in 1968.