Spanish police arrested 13 people in a series of dawn raids today on a banned organisation which authorities say is the youth wing of the Basque separatist group Eta.
The operation against the Segi group is the latest in a series of mass arrests of suspected supporters of Eta, and comes after a call last month by the armed separatists for a new truce, which the government has rejected.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that 300 police had taken part in the operation in the northern Basque country and neighbouring Navarre, and had dismantled the Segi organisation. Those arrested were aged between 20 and 29.
"Segi constitutes a youth scheme which Eta continues to use to rebuild its militant structure and continues to execute street terrorism, some of which acts may be related to those arrested," the statement said.
Segi was banned in January 2007 when the Supreme Court ruled it had links to terrorism, and is also listed as a terrorist organisation by the European Union.
In November 2009, police arrested 34 people accused of being Segi members, and the Interior Ministry said that action had dismantled the leadership of the organisation.
Spanish security forces have weakened Eta by arresting many of its key members in recent years, often in cooperation with their French counterparts.
Those arrested include suspected military leader Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, alias "Txeroki" (Cherokee), arrested in November 2008, and Ibon Gogeascoechea, Eta's top leader who had been at large since 1997 until his arrest earlier this year.
Success in tackling Eta has strengthened interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, who was promoted to deputy prime minister in a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, while retaining his interior portfolio.
Also in jail is Arnaldo Otegi, the leader of Eta's political wing, who has since called for a new truce.
The government, rejecting his call, demanded a halt to Eta's armed campaign to carve out an independent Basque homeland, in which it has killed some 850 people over four decades.
Reuters