Basque Home Office says those arrested behind police station attack

Basque Police carried out five arrests in different points across the Biscay and Gipuzkoa provinces at dawn on Tuesday, over alleged affiliations to an ETA&' || 'nbsp; commando (not, up until now, on police records), Basque Interior Department sources confirm.

Basque Interior councilor Rodolfo Ares, informed in a press conference that those detained were Ibon Iparragirre, Asier Badiola, Xeber Uribe, Jon Iñaki Esnaola and Jabier Zubizarreta. The arrests were carried out in Ondarroa (Biscay), Deba and Mutriku (Gipuzkoa).

Ares explained that the five men were "clearly" involved in an attack against a police station of the Basque Autonomous police force in September 2008, in which eleven people were injured, three of them officers of Ertzaintza, or Basque police. They are also accused of carrying out other attacks in Azpeitia and one on a machine being used in the construction of the high speed railway.

Basque police suspect that those arrested for part of a what is known as a legal commando (activists not yet on police records and therefore who are able to lead a normal existence) which provide material and information to other commandos paid by ETA and known to police.

The operation, coordinated by National Court judge Eloy Velasco, remains open and police have not ruled out that further arrests could be made.

This is the first operation to be carried out by the Autonomous police force''s new antiterrorist division, created by new Basque President, Patxi López''s government. However, the Home Office pointed out that Tuesday''s was a large-scale operation in which all divisions of the police force were involved.

Spanish Home Office Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, expressed his acknowledgement and congratulated both the police force and the Basque Interior.

Those arrested are now in police custody, where they will be questioned until they are brought to justice.

Searches of homes

So far the Ertzaintza searched six homes and is making two more.

Basque police also inspected premises allegedly used by so-called Basque leftists of Ondarroa (Biscay), Pro Amnesty Movement sources said. The agents seized documents and computer material which are being analysed.

Ondarroa''s blast

On September 2008, a car bomb loaded with 100 kg of explosives blew up outside the autonomous police headquarters injuring eleven people.

Shortly before detonating the bomb, the attackers threw incendiary devices to the building to make the officers leave the police station and therefore end up injured by the explosion.