Madrid - A man suspected of being a member of the Basque separatist group, ETA, was found dead in northern Spain with a gunshot wound to the head, police said yesterday. The death of Mr Jose Luis Geresta brought immediate reaction from ETA's political wing, which accused the government of foul play.
A police spokeswoman in Bilbao said the death could be a suicide, but the police had not ruled out other possibilities.
Mr Arnaldo Otegi, the leader of ETA's political wing, Herri Batasuna, accused Spanish authorities of being involved. "This act, this death is another phase of the state government's dirty war against ETA," Mr Otegi said in San Sebastian. "The state machinery has killed him."
Several members of the previous Socialist government were convicted for being involved in a "dirty war" against ETA in the 1980s. The self-styled Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups, known by the acronym GAL, killed 28 people.