Basque police arrest two ETA suspects after truce

BILBAO, Spain (Reuters) – Basque police arrested two people
suspected of having links to ETA on Monday, the Basque Interior
Ministry said, days after the armed separatist group declared a
permanent ceasefire.

After ETA announced its truce, politicians insisted that
the judiciary and police would continue to crack down on the
group that has waged a 38-year violent campaign to carve an
independent state out of the Basque Country in northern Spain
and southwest France.

The Basque Interior Ministry said the two people arrested
were suspected of being involved in an attack on the local
police force, the Ertzaintza, in September 2003, which
seriously wounded two policemen.

One of the people arrested was also suspected of links to
street violence.

Arkaitz Otazua, an ETA member, was killed in the 2003
attack when ETA members ambushed the car the two police were
in. The two remaining ETA men escaped but were detained in July
2004.

Monday’s arrests are the first moves against ETA since the
ceasefire was announced on Wednesday.

The next test for Spain’s reaction to the truce comes this
Wednesday when Arnaldo Otegi, the leader of Batasuna, a
political party banned for its links to ETA, appears before a
judge and is expected to be jailed for breaking bail terms.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and
opposition leader Mariano Rajoy are due to meet on Tuesday to
consider whether to start peace talks with ETA.