UK asked to extradite ETA suspect

ETA is blamed for 800 deaths in its 32-year independence campaign

MADRID, Spain - Spain is seeking the extradition from Britain of a suspected collaborator of Basque separatist group ETA.

Spanish authorities have accused Inigo Macazaga Castillo, 23, of collaborating with the group, possession of explosives and attempted murder.

He was arrested by British police in April on suspicion of using a false passport.

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ETA is the Basque-language acronym for Basque Homeland and Freedom.

The extradition request, announced by a Spanish government spokesman at a news conference on Friday, marked a milestone in Spain's efforts to crack down on those suspected of abetting ETA's violent 32-year campaign for Basque independence.

ETA is blamed for about 800 deaths since it launched its independence fight in 1968, during the regime of Gen. Francisco Franco, who waged a ruthless campaign to suppress Basque language and culture, centred in several provinces in northern Spain and southern France.

"This extradition is particularly noteworthy because … this is the first extradition of this sort Spain has requested from Britain," the spokesman, Pio Cabanillas, was quoted by Reuters as telling a news conference.

Peace hopes raised by a ceasefire called by ETA in September 1998 were dampened after ETA resumed its violence with a car bomb in Madrid, the capital.

But in recent weeks and months, thousands of Spaniards have taken to the streets of Spanish cities to denounce the violence. Last November, 900,000 demonstrators marched in Barcelona to protest ETA's assassination of a former health minister, Ernest Lluch.

Recent polls have indicated that about three-quarters of Spaniards consider terrorism to be Spain's number-one problem.

Last month, ETA appeared to suffer a further setback when the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which advocates independence from Spain through peaceful means, won 33 seats in the 75-member parliament in Basque regional elections.

The ruling centre-right Popular Party of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar -- a staunch opponent of Basque self-determination -- emerged as the region's second political force thanks to its alliance with the smaller conservative party.

A Popular Party candidate for regional president said that while he was dismayed at the overall result for his party, he was pleased that it had seemed to siphon votes from the radical leftist Euskal Herritarok (EH), considered ETA's political wing.

In Britain, ETA is on the official list of "international terrorist organisations," automatically barring its members from being granted asylum.