Spain, France arrest two ETA members
Date: 27/05/2012      Time: 10:38:00 PM
 
Spain said it arrested, via collaboration with French authorities, two members of the Basque separatist ETA group in southwest France on Sunday. ETA's Oroitiz Gurruchaga Gogorza and Xabier Aramburu were armed when they were arrested in the southwestern French village of Cauna, official TV quoted interior ministry sources as saying. Today's arrest raises to 15 the number of ETA members arrested since the separatist group announced complete cessation of armed activities. During the announcement, ETA called on France and Spain to open dialogue channels to solve the political conflict. ETA was established by radical separatist students in 1956, who sought independence of the 20,000-sq-km Basque region in southern France and northern Spain. The separatist movement is blamed for the killing of 829 people during its four-decade-old armed conflict with Spain.