SPAIN: Spanish officials claim to have broken up the top echelon of the Basque terrorist movement ETA after an operation in which French police raided a supermarket car park on the outskirts of Bordeaux on Monday and arrested two of the most wanted people in Spain. A French woman and her boyfriend were also detained, accused of connection with the terrorist movement.
Ainhoa Mujika and Juan Antonio Olarra Guridi have a long history of brutal terrorist activity in Spain going back for over a decade.
Between them they have been accused of more than 30 attacks including the 1995 attempt on the life of Mr José Maria Aznar, the current prime minister, the murder of the former head of the Spanish Constitutional Court professor Francisco Tomas y Valiente in 1996 and a car bomb attack in Madrid in 1995 which killed six people.
French police say the couple were heavily armed at the time of their arrest. From Jane Walker, in MadridThey had been watching the apartment building in Talance, Bordeaux, where they were living for several weeks after neighbours had reported their suspicious behaviour. Although they could have arrested either one on several occasions, they held back until they were sure they could catch them together.
The Spanish Interior Minister, Mr Angel Acebes, said yesterday that the two were responsible for ETA's military structure and had previously been members of the Madrid Commando from 1994 to 1997 and had carried out attacks in the Basque country and in coastal resorts. They fled to France in 1997 after a bomb exploded prematurely, killing one of their gang.
"Olarra and Mujika formed the pinnacle of ETA's apparatus and were the ones who gave instructions to the other terrorists. They supplied them with the material, fixed the objectives and gave the orders to act," he said.
The latest arrests had seriously weakened ETA's military structure, but he warned that they were still capable of action. Mujika, whose "wanted" photograph appears in all airports, railway and police stations, and Olarra have been a stable couple, both romantically and criminally, for the past 14 years.
In their 30s, they followed the path of many Etarras, graduating from kale borroka (street violence) to collaborating with terrorists before becoming terrorists themselves. Olarra rose to the ETA leadership last year following the arrest of the former leader, José Javier Arizkuren.
Their names were on the international list of most wanted terrorists issued after the World Trade Centre bombing last year.
A third person held was named as Soroya Garayaga (21), who is alleged to have been responsible for renting apartments and safe houses for ETA and for co-ordinating operations with the youth wing of the French Basque movement. Her boyfriend has also been detained. The latest arrests bring to 137 the number of Etarras arrested so far this year, more than 20 in France.
The Spanish government has begun formal extradition procedures, although it is likely they will first stand trial in France on charges of carrying arms and membership of an illegal organisation.