Former politician shot in suspected ETA attack

Former Socialist party official Jose Ramon Rikalde is wheeled into a hospital in San Sebastian, northern Spain, after he was shot in the head

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Suspected Basque gunmen have shot and critically wounded a former Socialist party official.

The victim, who was shot in the head, was identified as Jose Ramon Recalde, a former party councillor for justice and education in the Basque region.

Witnesses said a gunman shot 70-year-old Recalde in the face at close range as he was getting out of his car in San Sebastian.

The shooting bore the hallmark of the armed separatist group ETA, which has killed 12 people this year.

Thursday's shooting, in the Igueldo district of San Sebastian, comes a day after some 20 people were arrested in a major crackdown on the armed separatist group ETA, news reports said.

INTERACTIVE ETA-related violence in 2000 Timeline of the ETA campaign

Earlier in the day Spain's Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja had warned that ETA may try to retaliate for the arrests on Wednesday.

Recalde had retired from politics and was working as a professor of business studies at the university of San Sebastian.

A bookshop owned by his wife had been attacked by separatists several times, the reports said.

ETA has killed nearly 800 people since 1968 in its campaign for Basque independence. It has been particularly active since ending a 14-month truce last December and is blamed for 12 killings in shootings and bombings so far this year.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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