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Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2004

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  ETA, which is blamed in Spain for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s, is thought to have purchased the weapons in the 1980s, police said. But the group has never used such missiles in any of its attacks.

Reports circulating Tuesday in the Basque country said there were two missiles and suggested ETA bought them from Irish traffickers. Connections between the Irish Republican Army and ETA are well-known.

ETA has rarely been considered a weapons trafficker, only a buyer on the black market.

The missiles form part of a giant hoard of weaponry recovered from various caches in coordinated raids over the weekend. Police also netted Mikel Albizu Iriarte, ETA's suspected leader since 1993, and his partner, Soledad Iparraguirre, who is accused in 15 killings.

The French and Spanish governments trumpeted the arrests as an important victory in the fight against the armed group that has carried out bombings and killings in Spain for an independent Basque state.

Police found 880 pounds of dynamite, hundreds of pounds of chemicals for making bombs, 40,000 rounds of ammunition, thousands of bomb detonators and dozens of guns, including assault rifles. Abundant documentation also was seized.

Also Tuesday, Mikel Albizu, Iparraguirre and nine other suspects rounded up over the weekend were being transferred from Basque country to Paris, where they were to be locked up at headquarters of the anti-terrorism unit of national police, judicial officials said.

ETA wants an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain. The group is declared a terrorist gang on both sides of the Atlantic.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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