In a joint operation also involving the Guardia Civil, French police have arrested three ETA suspects, including two - Joseba Iturbide and Mikel San Sebastián - believed to be part of the 'Comando Elurra' cell blamed for the fatal attack on Barajas airport at the end of 2006. The other two members of the cell - Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola - were arrested in Mondragón (Guipúzcoa) on the 6th January.

The third person detained in Saint-Jean-de-Luz last night was Martínez Mur, who is known to have belonged to the separatist terror organisation since the 1980s, and with whom the other two suspects were staying.

According to an Interior ministry source, the 'Elurra' cell first became operational midway through 2005 when they launched a car bomb attack on a disco in Bordatxo which caused extensive material damage though no one was injured.

Then, in September 2006 when the ceasefire was still in force, two members of the cell - Mattin Sarasola and Josu Iturbide - were given the order to interrupt a homage to ETA martyrs in a forest on the slopes of Mount Atxirulegi. Wearing hoods and armed with G-3 assault rifles, the pair fired a number of shots in the air after a third hooded individual, whose identity has not been confirmed, had read a statement indicating that they, and many others like them, were prepared to spill their blood in the fight for an independent Basque homeland.

Their next attack was on the 30th December 2006 on the carpark of the new Terminal Four building at Barajas airport, which claimed the lives of two Ecuadorian immigrants.

Eight months later, Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola reappeared in Castellón, where, suspecting that the forces of law and order were beginning to close in on them, they blew up a van in an olive grove.

Detained ETA suspects 'carried out fatal Barajas bombing'
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Spanish Interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, confirmed at a lunchtime press conference today that Igor Portu Juanena and Martin Sarasola, who were arrested in Arrasate last weekend, collaborated with Mikel San Sebastián to carry out the attack on the Terminal 4 building of Barajas airport on the 30th December 2006 that claimed the lives of two people and which ended ETA's eight-month ceasefire.

According to Mr Rubalcaba, the information was obtained during the interrogation of Martin Sarasola, who has identified the fourth member of the cell, that was set up in 2002 by José Antonio Aranibar, as Jose Iturbide, who like Mikel San Sebastian, remains at large.

The four terrorists are also accused of being responsible for the explosion of a camper van packed with 100kg of explosives in Castellón on the 26th August last year, for a bomb attack on a discotheque in Guipúzcoa and for reading out a statement in a televised ETA communication made last September.

Mr Rubalcaba also stated that Sarasola has testified that he has not been mistreated either during or since his arrest, going on to say that the accusations that Igor Portu Juanena's injuries were caused by him being tortured, "simply do not hold water. Why would a Guardia Civil do something like that ten minutes before the suspect was due to be examined by a forensic scientist? It's not logical. It's something they never do, but in a case like this.."

26kg explosives found at second ETA dump
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

It has been confirmed that 26kg of explosives, divided up into bags each weighing 1.5kg, were found at the second cache uncovered since the arrests of ETA suspects, Igor Portu Juanena and Martín Sarasola, in the Basque town of Arrasate last Sunday.

The second cache was found buried in the grounds of a partially-completed country house belonging to Sarasola in the Otsango Auzoa district on the outskirts of Lesaka (Navarra) yesterday.

Searches have been carried out at the homes of two other suspects identified during the course of the investigation. The pair, who also live in Lesaka and who both remain at large, have been identified as Mikel San Sebastián Gaztelumendi and José Iturbide Otxoteko. 

Second ETA explosives dump found in Navarran wood
By: thinkSPAIN
Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Information gathered since the arrests of ETA suspects, Igor Portu Juanena and Martín Sarasola, last Sunday has led to the discovery of a second explosives cache less than 24 hours after 125kg of pentrite as well as 12 timers and detonators were found in a pine forest near Sabiñánigo in Huesca province.

The second cache was found near the town of Lesaka, close to the border with Guipúzcoa province.

It has also been confirmed that arrest warrants have been issued for two new terror suspects linked to today's find.

Explosives cache found following controversial ETA arrests
By: thinkSPAIN
Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Spanish Interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, called a press conference yesterday to confirm that Igor Portu Juanena, one of the two ETA suspects detained in Arrasate (Guipúzcoa) last Sunday, sustained the injuries that have landed him in the intensive care department of Donostia Hospital in San Sebastián, during his arrest.

However, the minister insisted that the arresting officers had complied "scrupulously with anti-terrorist legislation," and called on the other political parties to show prudence in their reaction to the news of the terror suspect's injuries until more information becomes available.

This follows demands yesterday from the PNV Basque nationalist party for the minister to appear before parliament "to clarify the circumstances leading to Igor Portu's hospitalisation."

Mr Rubalcaba explained that the two suspects ran off when they were asked to open their rucksacks, forcing the officers to give chase and forcibly restrain them, which is when and how the injuries occurred.

Portu Juanena, who sustained a broken rib, has claimed that he was "kicked and punched repeatedly in the face, upper body and abdomen."

Inside the rucksacks the officers found two handguns that, it has since been confirmed, were among those stolen from a French weapons supplier in October 2006. The two handguns were wrapped in cellophane, and it is believed that they had only recently been handed over to the suspects, who are thought to be active members of the reconstituted 'Vizcaya' terror cell.

A hand-drawn map was also found on one of the suspects that has since led investigators to an explosives dump on the outskirts of Sabiñánigo (Huesca), which, Mr Rubalcaba revealed, "almost certainly belongs to ETA."

It has been confirmed this morning that 125kg of explosives (pentrite) as well as detonators and timers were found at the cache.

Last night, Mr Rubalcaba also revealed that the two suspects "were known" to the security forces, said that they were certainly not acting alone and indicated that further arrests were possible as the investigation remains open.

Arrested ETA suspect hospitalised after home search
By: thinkSPAIN
Monday, January 7, 2008

One of the two ETA suspects arrested yesterday in Arrasate (Guipúzcoa) has been admitted to the intensive care department of the Donostia Hospital in San Sebastián.

Igor Portu Juanena is suffering from two broken ribs and respiratory problems, according to a report in the on-line edition of the Gara Basque daily newspaper.

Portu Juanena was detained yesterday in a routine Guardia Civil control along with Martín Sarasola after two handguns wrapped in cellophane were found in their possession.

The two men, who are both in their late twenties, were present as Guardia Civil officers carried out searches at their homes in the town of Lesaka (Navarra) that started shortly before 11pm last night (photo).

It is believed that these two arrests are linked to the detention of Gorka Lupiañez Mintegi in Berriz (Vizcaya) last month.

All three men are suspected of forming part of the reconstituted 'comando Vizcaya' terror cell.