Silent protests for Spanish bomb victims

The councillor's car was reduced to charred metal

Silent protests have been held in Spain, on the day of the funerals of two men killed in a bomb attack blamed on the Basque separatist group, ETA.

Crowds gathered at noon to demonstrate their anger at the group's continuing bloody battle for a separate homeland.

The two latest victims, Jose Angel Santos and Josu Leonet, were killed on Thursday in a car bomb in San Sebastian.

As the crowds gathered to protest against their deaths, the government announced on Friday that 15 people suspected of being ETA members were arrested in the northern province of Guipuzcoa.

'Extradition' plan

Xavier Gaztelou: One of Spain's most wanted

Sources also said that Spain was set to ask France to extradite a man accused of being one of ETA's senior commanders, Xavier Garcia Gaztelou (also known as Txapot).

He was arrested in south-west France on Thursday, and is on Spain's list of most wanted men. Spain believes he is head of ETA's military chain of command.

A formal demand for his extradition would be presented shortly, Spanish judicial sources told the Reuters news agency.

Seriously ill

The two men who died in Thursday's attack in San Sebastian were both staff at a local electrical firm who were not believed to have been the bombers' targets.

A Socialist town councillor thought to have been the intended victim was injured in the attack, along with three other people - two of whom remain seriously ill in hospital.

The silent protests against ETA were staged in a number of cities, including Bilbao in the Basque region.

Colleagues' protest

Five-hundred people gathered outside government offices, where they stood in silence for 15 minutes.

In San Sebastian itself, colleagues of the two dead men held a rally in protest at their murders.

ETA is now blamed for 26 deaths since January 2000. It had previously observed a 14-month ceasefire.

Spanish media reports said the most recent bomb attack was aimed at intimidating the ruling Popular Party and the Socialists ahead of early elections announced for the region only two days earlier.