MADRID, May 26 (UPI) -- Basque Nationalist Party spokesman Arnaldo Otegi has been jailed on suspicion of being a leader of the armed separatist group ETA.
The Basque Nationalists, or Batasuna Party, is suspected of acting as the political wing for ETA. The party was banned from participating in government in 2003 for its alleged affiliation with ETA, considered by Spain and the United States to be a terrorist group.
ETA has been has been blamed for more than 800 deaths since beginning its campaign for an independent Basque homeland in the 1960s.
This month alone, ETA has been blamed for at least three bombings including a truck bomb that detonated in Madrid on Monday, injuring several people.
Earlier this month, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero offered to open a dialogue with ETA, a move conservative opposition lawmakers rejected. Parliament eventually agreed with the prime minister and voted to hold the talks.
