Police arrest 10 ETA suspects in north Spain

Spanish police have arrested 10 ETA suspects in northern Spain in a new crackdown on the Basque separatist guerrillas.

Spanish police have arrested 10 ETA suspects in northern Spain in a new crackdown on the Basque separatist guerrillas.

The operation, ordered by crusading judge Mr Baltasar Garzon, stemmed from the arrest last December in the French city of Bayonne of a key ETA leader, Mr Ibon Fernandez. Papers found during that arrest provided clues leading to other suspects.

"We have arrested eight people in [the Basque province of] Guipuzcoa and another two in [the region of] Navarre," a spokesman for security forces said.

This is the fourth series of arrests linked to Mr Fernandez, bringing the total detained to 68 people.

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ETA has killed nearly 850 people since 1968 in a campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France. It is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.