Eta wounded but not killed off

By Katya Adler
BBC correspondent in Madrid

The arrests were a coup for the authorities

It is being celebrated in Spain as the biggest blow against the Basque separatist group, Eta, in years.

On Sunday French anti-terrorist police, accompanied by Spanish special forces, swooped on a number of isolated houses in south-west France, seizing significant amounts of firearms and explosives and, the star prize, Eta's political leader, Mikel Albizu.

Mr Albizu, more commonly known by his alias Mikel Antza, has reportedly overseen the group's strategy, financing and arms-buying since 1992, when French police arrested virtually all of Eta's then-senior members.

Along with Mikel Albizu, at least 16 other suspected Eta members were detained, including his girlfriend, Soledad Iparraguirre, said to be one of the most senior figures in Eta.

She is wanted by the Spanish authorities for her suspected involvement in at least 14 assassinations.

Four-year operation

The Spanish press have nicknamed the Eta pair Bonnie and Clyde.

Their son was with them when they were arrested. They were carrying false papers and refused to answer questions but were identified by police agents and, the Spanish interior ministry said, by their fingerprints.

Albizu and Iparraguirre had been sought for over a decade

Spain's Interior Minister, José Antonio Alonso, said the operation in the French Basque country was the result of a four-year operation by the Spanish Civil Guard.

"I want to congratulate the Spanish civil guard for their hard work," he said

"Of course the French police also played an extremely important role, as did the French interior ministry and the French government as a whole, with whom we have an outstanding relationship of co-operation."

Eta militants have long crossed into the rural Basque provinces of south-west France to take refuge or make plans.

The Basque separatist group has waged a bloody campaign for over 30 years, aimed at securing independence for seven regions in northern Spain and south-west France.

Though, in practice, Eta leaders concentrate their efforts solely on the Spanish Basque country.

Eta has declared war on the Spanish state and has been blamed for the deaths of more than 800 people over the years. Civilians and tourists have been targeted, as well as policemen and politicians.

Quiet period

Last week Eta issued a public warning, threatening continued violence until the Basque people win the right to political self-determination.

We've taken an important step forward in our attempts to stop Eta's terrorist violence... But there remains a long way to go Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero

But for the last 16 months, no-one has been killed in an ETA attack. This has been the quietest period in the group's history, barring truces, since the early 1970s.

The regional interior minister in the Spanish Basque country, Javier Balsa, says Eta is weaker now than it has ever been before.

That is thanks, he says, to a string of high profile arrests over the last couple of years.

These arrests have been facilitated by better co-operation with French police, which vastly improved following the 11 September attacks on the United States.

The Spanish and French interior ministers stayed in touch by phone throughout the police operation.

The two men are to meet in Paris on Thursday to discuss the cross-border crackdown against terrorism with particular focus, say Spanish government sources, on Eta and Islamic militants.

Still dangerous

But despite the successes for Spain and the setbacks for Eta, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has warned against complacency.

Although weakened, he said, Eta remained dangerous.

"We've taken an important step forward in our attempts to stop Eta's terrorist violence," he said.

"But there remains a long way to go and this government, alongside all other political parties and every democrat in this country wants to support the efforts of the Spanish police."

There had been rumours earlier this year of a possible Eta ceasefire, especially after the election in March of a Socialist government in Spain.

The Socialists are widely regarded here as more sympathetic to Basque nationalist sentiment than the former conservative government.

But, elected just three days after the March train attacks in Madrid, Spain's Socialist Party cannot afford to be seen to deal with those regarded by the majority of Spaniards as terrorists.

So the Eta violence continues, if in an apparently weakened form.

Spanish investigations say they are now concentrating their efforts on hunting down the next generation of Eta leaders, perhaps preparing to take over from those arrested at the weekend.