Spain detains two ETA suspects

Apr 12, 2011, 6:58 GMT

Bilbao, Spain - Spanish police Tuesday detained two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA, police said.

The brothers, who were suspected of supplying the group with weapons and explosives, were held in the Basque locality of Legorreta overnight.

The arrests followed those of two other ETA suspects in central France on Sunday. The two had fled following an exchange of fire which injured a police officer on Saturday.

The shoot-out was criticized by Bildu, a radical Basque separatist alliance which wants to participate in the May 22 local elections.

Bildu said the 'incident' went against the ceasefire declared by ETA in September. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government, however, did not find the criticism sufficient to guarantee Bildu the right to contest the elections.

The government says Spain will only authorize radical separatist parties which clearly condemn the violence of ETA.

The government intends to investigate whether Bildu candidates include people linked to Batasuna, ETA's illegal political wing.

Batasuna and its entourage recently launched a new radical separatist party, Sortu, but the Supreme Court barred it from contesting the elections.

The government now suspects that Bildu, the core of which is made up of two legal separatist parties, could act as a new cover for Batasuna, which was banned in 2003.

ETA reinforced its ceasefire by making it 'permanent' in January. The government has nevertheless maintained a hard line against the group, 35 of whose suspected members have been detained this year.

ETA, which has killed about 850 people since 1968, is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.

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