Spanish government seizes 140 kg of explosives in anti-ETA raids

The Spanish authorities seized 140 kg of explosives in raids against the separatist group Basque Homeland and Freedom (ETA), said a statement from the Interior Ministry on Saturday.

The raids, on six apartments in the northeastern provinces of Navarra and Guipuzcoa, also found a gun, said the ministry, adding that more arrests and seizures could follow.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told journalists that the articles found during the raids could provide clues to dozens of terror attacks by ETA in 2004-2006.

ETA, formed in 1959, has called for the establishment of an independent Basque state in the Basque region, straddling the Spanish-French border.

Over the past four decades, assassinations, kidnappings and explosions carried out by the group have claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 people. The European Union and the United States have listed ETA as a terrorist organization.

ETA declared a permanent truce on March 22, 2006. Three months later, the Spanish government decided to begin dialogue with the group. But the government called off the peace process after ETA detonated a bomb at Madrid airport last December, killing two people.

Source: Xinhua