Spain & terrorism (catch all)

[Jedburgh]

Expatica, 14 Jan 08: Terror Arrests Deal Blow to "Parallel ETA" Organisation

....The discovery of an ETA bomb-making facility in Cahors (France) in September and last week's dismantling of a special cell known as Elurra, which is behind the deaths of two people in the December 2006 attack against Barajas airport - and which was planning a new bombing in Madrid - shows that ETA had rebuilt its human and material capacity during the nine-month ceasefire from March to December of that year.

The double antiterrorist sweep is a heavy blow for ETA, which was gearing up for action ahead of Spain's 9 March general elections. But despite the arrests, the terrorist group will still try to carry out new attacks before that date, the Interior Ministry warned Sunday.....

[Jedburgh]

France24, 22 Jul 08: Police Dismantle ETA's Most Active Cell

Spanish police dismantled the armed Basque separatist group ETA's most active unit with the arrest Tuesday of at least eight suspected members of the group in raids across the country.

Among those captured was Arkaitz Goikoetxea, the alleged leader of the "Vizcaya" cell which Spanish police suspect was behind a string of recent bombings, Basque news agency Vasco Press reported.

Goikoetxea was detained at an apartment in Bilbao, the financial capital of Spain's northeastern Basque region, in an early morning raid, it said.

The "Vizcaya" unit carried out 80 to 90 percent of ETA's attacks since the group called off a ceasefire in June 2007, the editor-in-chief of the Bilbao-based news agency, Florencio Dominguez, told AFP.....

[davidbfpo]

A welcome piece of news, citing the Spanish PM:

...hailed the end of Basque separatist group Eta's armed campaign as a "victory for democracy, law and reason".

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the 800 victims of Eta's 40-year struggle would be remembered forever and that the "terror" should never happen again.

In a statement provided to the BBC on Thursday, Eta said it had renounced armed struggle as a tool for achieving an independent Basque state - a key demand by the Spanish government. The group said it faced "a historic opportunity to obtain a just and democratic solution to the age-old political conflict. Eta has decided on the definitive cessation of its armed activity,"

Link to BBC report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15398799

There is a lengthy Wikipedia account of ETA:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA

Partly due to the links between Northern Ireland and Spain the UK has watched the Spanish situation closely, with several books written expanding knowledge on the links - IIRC cited on other threads.

What is remarkable in the Spanish response to ETA's campaign is the role of the Spanish public, who have repeatedly en masse rejected ETA in street protests; this took longer to gain traction in the Basque areas of Spain. As the BBC story shows obtaining France's agreement to "cracking down" on ETA was vital.