Spain catches leader of Basque terror group

Times:

Spanish security forces are claiming a major victory against the armed Basque separatist group Eta, “decapitating” the group with the arrest of its alleged leader.

In a joint anti-terrorist operation around Bordeaux, French and Spanish police seized Javier López Peña, 49, also known as Thierry, along with several other alleged senior members of the group.

Speaking during a visit to Senegal, the Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, said: “This is not just another operation. One of those arrested ... is the man who, in all probability, has the most political and military weight in the terrorist group Eta.”

The alleged head of Eta was reportedly holding a meeting with several top lieutenants when French and Spanish police raided their safe house in Bordeaux at around 11pm on Tuesday night. Though they were armed, police said, the alleged Eta militants offered no resistance.

Mr López Peña and several others were filmed being led into a police station in handcuffs, shouting slogans in Basque and, in one case, falling to the ground. Another of those arrested, Ainhoa Ozaeta, is alleged by Spain to have read out the communiqué announcing Eta’s ceasefire in March 2006.

Spain was preparing requests for the immediate extradition of two of the suspects arrested in Bordeaux, but the case of Thierry was more complex, as he is also wanted on criminal charges in France, Spanish court officials said.

Officers wearing balaclavas carried boxes of evidence with them, which reportedly included computers and other equipment. Spanish police are hoping that the hard discs will offer a treasure trove of intelligence about the outlawed group.

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It has been a bad year for terrorist. Spain joins Colombia, Iraq and Afghanistan in capturing terrorist leaders. It looks like the war on terror is bearing fruit around the world. Can we blame it on President Bush?