Madrid - Spanish police arrested five suspected members of ETA yesterday in a government attempt to fight back against the Basque separatist group's bloodiest offensive in recent years. Two women and three men were detained in Madrid.
Police also raided three flats in and around Madrid which were apparently used by the group.
But police did not believe the suspects were behind a powerful car bomb that killed three people and wounded more than 60 in the Spanish capital on October 30th, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. ETA has claimed or been blamed for 19 killings since it ended a ceasefire late last year, resuming its three-decade campaign of violence for an independent Basque state.