Spain arrests 36 over Eta links

Spanish police have arrested 36 members of Segi, an outlawed youth group linked to the Basque guerrilla organisation Eta, court…

Spanish police have arrested 36 members of Segi, an outlawed youth group linked to the Basque guerrilla organisation Eta, court officials said today.

The operation was carried out across the Basque Country and Navarra, northern Spain, on the orders of a High Court judge. Leaders of Segi, which was declared a terrorist group by the Supreme Court in 2007, were among those arrested, the officials said.

Eta was founded 50 years ago during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and has killed more than 800 people in its campaign for an independent Basque Country.

Security forces believe it has been substantially weakened by hundreds of arrests in recent years in France and Spain but that it is still capable of fighting.

Spanish police were not immediately available to comment.

Reuters