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SAM launchers found among ETA armoury
A ground-to-air missile used in shoulder launchers has been found in one of seven arms caches in southwest France uncovered in weekend raids against suspected members of Spain's armed Basque separatist group ETA, a French official said Tuesday. The missile was discovered along with a large amount of explosive material in a house under construction in the town of Urrugne, near the Spanish border.Seventeen people, including Mikel "Antza" Albizu Iriarte, ETA's political leader and chief theoretician, and his girlfriend, Soledad "Anboto" Iparragirre Genetxea, a suspected former military chief of the group, were arrested in the region Sunday in swoops by French anti-terrorist officers. Spanish officials said they arrested another four suspects on their side of the border the same day. Three of the suspects arrested in France were released Monday and the 14 others remain in custody, the French official said, adding that searches of the arms caches were continuing and would "take several days". The official said experts were examining the missile to determine where it was made and how it might have been acquired by ETA. According to the Spanish newspaper El Diario Vasco, the separatist group is believed to have several SAM-7 missiles able to blast low-flying aircraft out of the sky, according to documents found in previous raids. ETA has been waging a bloody campaign for an independent homeland in parts of northern Spain and southwestern France since 1959. It has been blamed for the deaths of 817 people in that time, according to a toll published Monday by Spain's El Pais daily. Both Spain and France hailed Sunday's raids against the group as a "historic" victory. Posted by: Steve 2004-10-05 |
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