Spain Arrests Eight In Basque Country Raids

The operation was the culmination of a nine-month investigation by Judge Baltasar Garzon, the ministry said.

Spanish police arrested eight leading members of Basque separatist groups on suspicion of having links to ETA rebels and searched 18 buildings in raids early on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

The ministry said police suspect that the eight intended to form part of the banned political wing of ETA, which pursues a violent campaign for an independent country for traditional Basque regions in northern Spain and southwest France.

Other leading organisers of Batasuna were arrested in earlier raids.

The operation was the culmination of a nine-month investigation by Judge Baltasar Garzon, the ministry said.

Garzon accompanied police officers to the Bilbao home of Arantza Urkaregi, spokeswoman for banned political group ANV, a witness said.

They also arrested Amparo Lasheras, spokeswoman for a new political grouping called Democracy 3 million (D3M).

Police officers and Garzon also searched the Bilbao headquarters of Herria Aurrera, another banned political party.

Friday's arrests and raids are the latest effort by Judge Garzon, Spain's most famous judge, to crack down on the activities of ETA and its supporters.

Since 1968, ETA has killed more than 800 people in bombings and shootings.