Spain arrests 14 ETA suspects
From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
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MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish police arrested 14 suspected collaborators of the Basque separatist group ETA in pre-dawn raids in northern Spain on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said.
Interior Minister Angel Acebes told reporters ETA's leadership was trying to place the suspects in four northern provinces that have Basque roots.
The arrests resulted from information police gleaned following the arrest last December in France of Jon Ibon Fernandez, the 31-year-old suspected ETA chief of commandos, CNN plus reported.
Ibon Fernandez escaped from a French police station in Bayonne on December 21 after just three days in custody by squeezing through a ventilation duct. He remains at large.
Wednesday's pre-dawn raids were on the orders of Judge Baltasar Garzon, who has been a key figure in the fight against ETA, which is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its 34-year fight for Basque independence.
The 14 suspects, ranging in age from 18 to 47, included five women, the Interior Ministry said.
The arrests occurred in four provinces that ETA says are part of its future Basque nation. These are Guipuzcoa, Vizcaya and Alava, which are known in Spain as the Basque region -- with a regional parliament and police force -- and neighbouring Navarra, which has Basque roots but a separate regional parliament.
The arrests came hours after the Basque regional police on Tuesday deactivated a 7 kg dynamite bomb that had been placed on a rural road used by Basque police officers.
Also on Tuesday, Basque police arrested nine young people suspected of carrying out acts of pro-ETA street violence, such as burning buses or cash machines -- a common occurrence in the troubled Basque region.
This year, ETA is blamed for one killing, on February 8, of Joseba Pagazaurtundua, 45, a local police officer and outspoken critic of Basque independence. He was shot dead while having breakfast in a Basque bar.
