LOC11:31
08:31 GMT
PARIS, Sept 3 (KUNA) -- Four prominent members of the Basque separatist
group "ETA" are to be transferred from southern France to Paris Monday for
further questioning about their connection with violent activities in the
Spanish Basque country, security sources said.
The four were arrested over the weekend and their houses underwent
extensive searches throughout Sunday to find evidence linking them with
bombings and attacks against Spanish government or security services.
The Basque territory straddles France and Spain but the violence has been
confined to the Spanish and larger part of the region, where ETA is seeking an
independent homeland.
In June, ETA ended a short ceasefire it has declared soon after a bomb
attack against Madrid airport at the end of 2006. At least two people died in
that attack and several were wounded, in addition to the extensive damage
caused.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has vowed to intensify cooperation
between the Spanish and French security services, thus pursuing a policy he
had helped implement when he was twice Interior Minister of France.
Indeed, Spanish policy participated in searches of the ETA suspects homes
on Sunday, the security sources reported.
The latest arrests in the city of Cahors, just on the fringes of the French
Basques country, are considered a major coup for the French police in view of
the importance of those arrested, among them a major bomb-maker for the ETA
organization.
Separately, the Basque terrorist organization has set about disrupting the
traditional summer holiday return traffic in Spain by setting off an explosion
on a motorway and by issuing bomb threats on others.(end)
jk.wsa
KUNA 031131 Sep 07NNNN