ETA ex-leader arrested in Guipuzkoa, Spain

Former leader of the Basque separatist group ETA Santiago Arrospide Sarasola was arrested on Monday in the northern province of Guipuzkoa, Spain's Basque region.

According to the Ministry of Interior, Arrospide was arrested by Spain's National Police and Civil Guard because of his alleged participation in a car bomb attack against a patrol of the Civil Guard occurred in the northeastern city of Barcelona in 1987.

The attack killed a person that was near the place and caused several people injured, the civil guards of the patrol and other people who were close.

The radical cell in charge of this attack could have been following orders from Arrospide, who will be transferred to Madrid, where he will be brought before a court.

Arrospide was released on Dec. 4 by Spain's National Court following a Council of Europe framework decision on the accumulation of sentences across several European countries.

He had been arrested in France in 1987 where he was condemned by a French court to 10 years in 1990 and extradited to Spain where a Spanish court sentenced him again. He ordered the attack that killed 21 people in the Hipercor supermarket in Barcelona occurred in 1987.

The ETA struggle for the independence of the Basque region has led to 829 deaths in 40 years. However, the group called a definitive ceasefire in the run up to the 2011 general election and has not carried out any operations since then. Endit