Police arrested 17 suspected members of Basque separatist guerrilla group ETA in northern Spain on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said. A ministry statement said the raid by 150 police had "neutralised" a network which provided ETA with infrastructure, support and information on targets to attack. "They... form the eyes and ears of that structure (ETA)," Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told reporters. The arrests were made in the Basque country and in neighbouring Navarre, claimed by ETA as part of a Basque homeland. Police searched at least 18 houses and seized documents, the ministry said. The operation showed Spanish authorities were keeping up pressure on ETA, which some analysts say has been seriously weakened by a Spanish and French crackdown. "It shows that the instruments used until now to combat ... terrorism continue to be effective," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told Spanish television. More than 100 ETA suspects, including alleged leader Mikel Albisu Iriarte, alias "Mikel Antza", have been detained in Spain and France this year.
