Spanish Police Arrest Third ETA Suspect This Week

On Jan. 16, a small bomb exploded that police said was bait to lure police into a second booby-trap device.

Spanish police arrested a suspected member of armed separatist group ETA on Thursday in the Basque Country town of Hernani, a police spokesman said, linking this to two other arrests this week.

Police had arrested two people, on Sunday and on Wednesday, in the northern town of Villabona in connection with bombs planted in January.

On Sunday, police found bomb-making material in a flat used by the 24-year-old suspect and said in a statement his arrest had been brought forward because his movements suggested he may be preparing an attack.

On Jan. 16, a small bomb exploded that police said was bait to lure police into a second booby-trap device. No damage or serious injury resulted.

ETA has killed more than 800 people since the 1960s in its campaign to carve out an independent Basque Country in northern Spain and southwestern France.

The Spanish government says the arrest of key leaders has reduced ETA to a relatively small number of fighters, but the group has continued to carry out bombings.