Two arrests weaken ETA, says Spanish minister

THE arrest in France of two suspected leaders of the outlawed Basque separatists ETA significantly weakened the armed group, Spainish justice minister Angel Acebes said yesterday.

Juan Antonio Olarra Guridi and Ainhoa Mugika "were the ones who gave the orders, provide all the material for the attacks ... and most importantly, they were the ones who selected the targets," he said.

Olarra Guridi, 35, and Mugika, 32, were detained yesterday in Talence, near the southern French city of Bordeaux. The justice minister identified a third detainee as Saroia Gallarada, who allegedly rented homes for use as safe houses by ETA members.

Olarra Guridi and Mugica are named on EU and US lists of wanted international terrorists. Acebes said 20 warrants had been issued for Olarra Guridi's arrest and 12 for Mugika.

The two took control of ETA commandos following the February 2001 arrest, also in France, of Francisco Javier Garcia Gaztelu, the minister said, adding that they have been "among the most brutal and wanted terrorists for many years".

The three were apprehended while driving a car with a fake licence plate, according to the French Interior Ministry. They were questioned last night at the judicial police headquarters in Bordeaux.

El Pais newspaper said it was the fourth time since 1999 that ETA's senior leadership was dismantled.

Olarra Guridi is accused of the 1996 murder of Francisco Tomas y Valiente, the former chief justice of the Constitutional Court one of ETA's most high profile killings.

The judge was shot in the head three times as he sat in his office at the Madrid university where he taught law.

Mugica is suspected of taking part in a 1995 car bombing that targeted Jose Maria Aznar, then the leader of the country's political opposition and now Spanish prime minister.

ETA stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom. The group is blamed for more than 800 killings during its 34-year-old campaign of bombings and shootings aimed at carving an independent Basque homeland out of territory straddling northern Spain and southwest France.

The group has claimed or been blamed for 41 deaths since a 14 month ceasefire ended in January 2000.