Spanish police captured an armed man and woman early Thursday in a car packed with explosives in the heart of Barcelona, apparently thwarting a new attack by the Basque separatist group ETA.
Meanwhile in the Basque country, the moderate nationalist who heads the regional government, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, announced early elections to the local parliament in response to tensions fueled by ETA violence.
The ETA suspects armed with pistols were picked up by police at 4:00 am (0300 GMT) near the Christopher Columbus column, a landmark of Catalonia's capital Barcelona, after a police patrol became suspicious, Spanish Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja said.
Acting "with great professionalism and firmness," officers prevented the two using their weapons, Barcelona mayor Joan Clos said. ETA is pursuing a bloody campaign for an independent Basque country.
The car was loaded with between 15 and 20 kilograms (up to 44 pounds) of explosives.
The arrested couple are suspected of links with a Barcelona ETA hit squad allegedly behind the deaths of four people in the city in the past three months, including former Socialist health minister Ernest Lluch.
Police identified the two as Jose Ignacio Krutxaga Elezkano and Oiane Errazti Galdos, alleged former members of ETA's "Donosti" cell, a deadly squad active in the San Sebastian area of the Basque country.
ETA, which stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna -- Basque Homeland and Liberty -- wants an independent state incorporating Guipuzcoa, Vizcaya and Alava -- the three northern Spanish provinces which now form the autonomous region -- along with neighbouring Navarra province and the French Basque country.
It resumed violence at the beginning of 2000 after breaking off a 14-month ceasefire, expressing dissatisfaction with progress in talks with the Spanish government.
The group has been blamed for the murders of 23 people in bombing and shooting attacks during 2000.
Police on Wednesday defused two bombs near an army base in northeastern Spain which ETA claimed to have set.
The devices, found near Gerona in the Catalan region, were stashed in backpacks on a construction site. Security forces carried out a controlled explosion.
The attempt was the second of two failed attacks by ETA since Tuesday, when a "miracle" -- in the words of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar -- prevented a device from exploding in a cemetery in the Basque town of Zarautz where members of his Popular Party had gathered to commemorate the earlier assassination by ETA of one of their number.
The year since ETA broke off its ceasefire has been the bloodiest of its campaign since 1992, when the group was blamed for 26 deaths.
Meanwhile Ibarretxe said the region would hold early elections this year because of lack of support in the regional parliament for his minority government.
"This will come as a surprise to no one -- 2001 will obviously be an election year," Ibarretxe said on radio.
He said announcement of the early elections was necessary to end speculation about the polls which had been hampering dialogue between political parties opposed to the ETA violence.
Ibarretxe has been government leader for two years and elections had been scheduled for October 2002. His moderately nationalist Basque National Party (PNV) has ruled the region since 1980.
But he has been running a minority administration since the radical Euskal Herritarrok (EH) coalition -- which provides an electoral platform for ETA -- quit the regional parliament in September, accusing the PNV of focusing on Basque autonomy rather than full independence.
Ibarretxe said the election would be held just "before or after the summer" and that exact dates would be given later.
Tensions in the Basque country have mounted since ETA ended its truce, with society polarizing into nationalists and a pro-Spanish camp.
Ibarretxe's PNV condemns ETA violence, but shares Euskal Herritarrok's ambition to give the region self-determination and greater sovereignty.
By contrast, the right-of-center Popular Party, with its power base in Madrid, concluded an anti-violence pact last month with the opposition Socialist Party, defending the Spanish constitution and the Basque country's present autonomous status within Spain -- BARCELONA (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
