French Police Hold Leader of Rebel Basques’ Military Wing
French police arrested the head of the military wing of Spain’s Basque separatist group ETA, which has killed nearly 800 people in a 31-year campaign.
The arrest of the Basque leader and five other alleged ETA members took place on the day Spain’s prime minister met with top French officials in Paris.
Police said the five men and one woman had been under surveillance this week.
Police picked up the leader of ETA’s military wing, Javier Arizcuren-Ruiz, also known as Kantauri, as he left a hotel in Paris. Three other alleged ETA members were arrested with him, and two were taken into custody in an apartment in southwestern Paris.
Kantauri, under investigation for an alleged role in 18 killings, is accused of ordering a failed 1995 assassination attempt against King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
ETA--which stands for the Basque words for Basque Homeland and Freedom--wants an independent homeland straddling the Spanish-French border. The group has been observing a truce since Sept. 18.
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