Seven held in ETA raids

The arrests follow the extradition of an ETA suspect

Police in Spain have arrested seven people who are suspected of having links with the Basque separatist group ETA.

A large quantity of dynamite was also seized in the operation in the Basque region, said a government spokeswoman.

Detonators, false number plates and forged documents were also said to have been found.

The suspects were detained in the villages of Urretxu and Zumarraga near San Sebastian.

The police operation - including the searching of homes - is reported to be continuing.

Spanish news agency Efe said at least seven homes had been raided.

Commandos

The seven people were detained on suspicion of collaborating with a three-man ETA commando unit, said the spokeswoman.

But Spanish police sources said that members of the unit had managed to escape.

Police believe they are responsible for recent car bomb attacks across Spain.

In August, car bombs exploded at Madrid's airport and outside a hotel in the Mediterranean town of Salou.

There were no casualties, but the explosions caused extensive damage to buildings.

In July, a car bomb was defused at Malaga airport.

Killers jailed

Tuesday's round-up of suspects comes a day after two suspected members of ETA were jailed for 30 years for murdering a city councillor.

Igor Solana and Harriet Iragi shot Jose Martin Carpena in front of his family as he left his home in Malaga.

In a separate development on Monday, a former ETA leader was extradited temporarily to Spain from France.

Frances Lorenxa Beyrie was among those detained at Auch

Jose Javier Arizcuren Ruiz faces charges over an attempt to assassinate King Juan Carlos in 1995.

He will be returned to France to serve out a 10-year sentence, once the Spanish case has finished.

Four other suspected ETA members arrested at Auch in southern France last week have been placed under judicial investigation in Paris, said officials.

The four - one of them a French woman - face charges of having links to terrorism, holding false documents and possessing unauthorised weapons.

The group includes two Spanish men - Juan Ramon Karazatorre Aldaz, also known as Zapata, and Jose Ramon Lete Alberdi, otherwise known as Mikel - who are also wanted in Spain in a number of murder inquiries.

Officials believe they were running a training centre from Auch.