Spain finds suspected ETA explosives cache

Spanish police found a cache of explosives they suspect belonged to Basque separatist guerillas ETA, sources close to the investigation said yesterday.

The cache of explosives was found in the province of Burgos, neighbouring the Basque Country, and sources said police were trying to determine whether the stash was linked to a series of arrests of suspected ETA members last week.

Police found eight kilogrammes of sodium chlorate - used to make explosives - and a device for activating bombs by remote control, a source said. That would have been enough to make six small bombs, she said.

Separately, police arrested Eneko Ostolaza, 23, in the Basque Country for suspected connections with two men detained last Thursday for attempting to distribute ETA's newsletter.

The week leading up to Easter saw three batches of ETA-related arrests in as many days.

ETA has killed nearly 850 people since 1968 in a bombing and shooting campaign for an independent Basque homeland carved out of northern Spain and southwestern France. Spain, the European Union and the United States label it a terrorist organisation.

ETA has not killed anyone for two years having been greatly weakened in past years by hundreds of arrests in Spain and France. Yesterday's arrest raises the number of ETA suspects arrested this year to 44.