Spanish police arrest two ETA men

MADRID – Spanish police arrested two men in northeastern Spain on suspicion of belonging to armed Basque separatist group ETA, the Interior Ministry said yesterday in a statement.

Unai Lamariano and Sergio Garcia Lazcano were detained in the Basque seaside province of Guipuzcoa, the statement said. Lamariano was arrested in San Sebastian and Lazcano in Renteria on the city’s outskirts, the statement said.On Saturday, police seized more than 140 kilogrammes of explosives and a pistol during raids in the nearby province of Navarra against ETA.Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told journalists in the southern city of Jaen that the searches could provide clues to 24 terror attacks by ETA between 2004-06.Spanish security forces had been on high alert since Wednesday when police arrested eight people in the Basque town of Andoain – 50 kilometres west of Pamplona – on suspicion of belonging to ETA and seized 30 kilogrammes of explosives and detonators.On Friday, anti-terror judge Baltasar Garzon banned a weekend rally at which a new Basque separatist political party was to have been unveiled.Garzon said the new party was too closely linked to Batasuna, a group outlawed for ties to the militant organisation ETA.Nampa-APLamariano was arrested in San Sebastian and Lazcano in Renteria on the city’s outskirts, the statement said.On Saturday, police seized more than 140 kilogrammes of explosives and a pistol during raids in the nearby province of Navarra against ETA.Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told journalists in the southern city of Jaen that the searches could provide clues to 24 terror attacks by ETA between 2004-06.Spanish security forces had been on high alert since Wednesday when police arrested eight people in the Basque town of Andoain – 50 kilometres west of Pamplona – on suspicion of belonging to ETA and seized 30 kilogrammes of explosives and detonators.On Friday, anti-terror judge Baltasar Garzon banned a weekend rally at which a new Basque separatist political party was to have been unveiled.Garzon said the new party was too closely linked to Batasuna, a group outlawed for ties to the militant organisation ETA.Nampa-AP