Military

DATE=11/10/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=SPAIN / ETA (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-269091

BYLINE=GIL CARBAJAL

DATELINE=MADRID

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Police in Spain have arrested four suspected members of the Basque separatist group, ETA. Gil Carbajal in Madrid reports that just hours after police made the arrests, two journalists escaped unharmed from a failed bomb that officials blamed on ETA.

TEXT: Spanish police arrested four suspected members of the Basque separatist organization, ETA, in the Basque city of Bilbao. The suspects - three men and a woman - were believed to be replacements for the four ETA members who were killed on August 7th when the explosives in their car blew up.

In Friday's early morning raid, police searched three residences. They said they discovered weapons, 60 kilos of explosives, and lists of potential victims, included journalists, security agents, and politicians.

A few hours after police made the arrests, two journalists - Aurora Intxausti, of the newspaper El Pais, and Juan Palomo, of the Antenna Tres Television Network - escaped unharmed from a failed bomb that officials blamed on ETA.

/// OPT /// As Mr. Palomo opened the front door of his home, he heard a small firecracker-like bang. It was caused by the detonator of a bomb contained in a flowerpot placed at the doorstep. Officials said the two kilos of explosives were enough to have killed the journalist and their child had the detonating mechanism not failed. /// END OPT ///

Ms. Intxausti was named in a video produced by a pro-ETA magazine. ETA accused the journalist of being in the pay of the Spanish Interior Ministry.

Two hours later, ETA apparently struck again, firebombing the home of a policeman in Vitoria, but there were no victims.

The employees of El Pais and Antenna Tres immediately issued a communique saying that ETA will not succeed in muzzling freedom of expression by arms and explosive devices.

The raid Friday was the second major police operation this week. Police arrested four suspected members of ETA in Madrid on Tuesday. Spanish Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja said both groups were about to carry out terrorist attacks.

ETA called off a 14-month long truce last December. In its 32-year campaign for an independent Basque homeland, ETA has been accused of killing about 800 people. (Signed)

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