ETA Blamed For Death of French Policeman

[Richard]

And so it goes...

Richard

Spanish PM blames ETA for death of French policeman
AFP, 17 Mar 2010

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Wednesday that the fatal shooting of a French policeman near Paris was "a criminal action" carried out by Basque separatist group ETA.

"I condemn this criminal action carried out by the criminals of the terrorist group ETA and express my solidarity with France," he told reporters.

The 52-year-old French policeman died Tuesday in a shootout near Paris with Basque-speaking gunmen, one of whom was arrested and gave a Basque identity, sources close to the inquiry said.

The shooting occurred near Dammarie-les-Lys, 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of the French capital, after a police patrol checked the identities of a group that had stolen cars from a garage.

If the shooting is confirmed to be the work of ETA, it will be the first time that a French policeman has been killed by the outfit in France.

"This time France has paid a high price for its cooperation with us in the fight against ETA which is so important for our freedom and security," said Zapatero.

"I have felt the assassination of this gendarme as if it were a member of our own security forces because I know how much they work with us and are dedicated to the cause of freedom and ending ETA," he added.

In December 2007 ETA guerillas fatally shot two Spanish police officers at point blank range who had been taking part in a surveillance operation with French police in the French resort town of Capbreton.

France and Spain signed a special accord in January 2008 allowing Spanish agents to operate in southwestern France as part of their joint fight against ETA.

Over the past two years French police in cooperation with their Spanish counterparts have arrested five leaders of ETA in France, which has long been used by the outfit as a rear base to stage attacks in Spain.

"The terrorist group is being pursued relentlessly but it maintains its criminal intent," said Zapatero.

"Of course our security forces, in full cooperation with those from France with the support of the governments of Spain and France, will continue with this relentless fight against the criminals of the terrorist group ETA," he added.

ETA, regarded as a terrorist group by both the European Union and the United States, was blamed before this shooting for 828 deaths in its 41-year campaign for independence for the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France.

It resumed its attacks in mid-2007 after a 15-month truce and abortive negotiations with Zapatero's socialist government, which has since adopted a firm firm line against the group.

Since the end of the ceasefire, police have arrested over 450 suspected members of ETA or supporters of the group who stage acts of urban violence known as "kale borroka" in the Basque language, Zapatero told Spanish public television TVE last week.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100317...uesetazapatero