News
Agencies
03/18/2010
10 ETA suspects may be implicated in the attack on the murdered policeman, whose colleagues paid him tribute on Wednesday. The Basque left has refused to condemn the crime.
On Wednesday afternoon, police questioned one person who may have been witness to the attack. French gendarmes also interrogated the only suspect arrested so far in connection with the killing of one of their agents. The deceased officer, Jean Serge Nérin of 52 years, died following a gun attack carried out by various suspected members of ETA, antiterrorist campaign sources inform. He was the father of four children.
The shooting took place to the west of Paris in the area of Dammarie-lès-Lys, a town of 20,000 inhabitants, at 7.15pm, though news of the attack was not known until later into the evening.
The attack broke out when French agents went to detain a vehicle traveling at high speed. As police were carrying out a control of the vehicle, other cars appeared on the scene and it least one occupant began shooting at the the murdered agent.
The deceased was wearing a bullet-proof vest, but one projectileentered through his armpit and he died in hospital one hour later as a result of his injuries.
Following a search of the crime scene, police recovered the weapon used by the suspected ETA-members, a magnum with the serial number filed off.
At the time of the attack, the suspected members of the armed group were on the run after attacking a car dealership in the Parisian département of Seine et Marne, where they stole six second hand vehicles.
During the robbery, the perpetrators retrained one employee who had to be taken to hospital.
Paris’ central court antiterrorist division has taken on the investigation into the crime, who are responsible for examining all cases linked with ETA activity in France.
Authorities in Spain, where the Basque separatist rebels have killed more than 850 people, were quick to blame the group."This time France has paid a high price for its collaboration in the fight against ETA, which is so important for our freedom and our security," panish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a news conference.
"I feel just as strongly about the murder of this policeman as I would have done if he had been a member of our own security forces," he said.
ETA members have often used the open border with France to escape detection in Spain and while they do commit crimes, such as theft of vehicles and weapons, they avoid direct confrontation with French police.
However, in recent weeks increased security measures by the French have led to hundreds of arrests and seriously weakened
the group.
At the end of February, the man believed to be ETA''s military leader, Ibon Gogeaskoetxea, was arrested in Normandy along with two suspected accomplices.
First time ETA kills French policeman
The shooting in which the 52-year-old policeman was killed is the fifth armed confrontation carried out by ETA on French security forces since 1996, though the first time an agent has actually died as a result.
Before Tuesday''s attack, the most recent of its kind took place on 8th June 2009 in the area of Saint-Énimie in south-west France, when one policeman was injured following a shoot out with two suspected members of the armed group, who had stolen two vehicles.
UNLIKELY CHANGE IN TACTICS
Tuesday''s killing was unlikely to herald a more aggressive attitude towards the French authorities, according to Juan Aviles, a history professor at Spain''s UNED open university.
Instead, they may be struggling to operate effectively."You get the impression that they''re improvising, that they lack of professionalism as criminals." Until Tuesday, ETA had not claimed a fatal victim since July, when it killed two police officers on the island of Majorca with a bomb.
Polls indicate a significant minority of the inhabitants of the Spanish Basque Country, where Basque language and culture have remained distinct, would like independence, although only a smaller number sympathise with violent groups. In the French Basque Country, the distinctive Basque language is no longer widely spoken and separatist sentiment is weak.
Comments
top stories
Most watched
Vídeo de El Conquistador | Isa se atrevió con las serpientes
Vídeo Al rescate | Clases de reciclaje con Xabier Mikel Errekondo
Vídeo de la programación especial sobre el final de Copa del Athletic
EITB a la carta: La televisión que te gusta, cuando a ti te gusta
Video de la pérdida de peso de concursantes | El Conquistador
Vídeo de los concursantes emocionados con sus colores | Conquistador
Video de Euskadi Directo | Si gana el Athletic... ¡cena gratis!
Video de ED | 'Rollito Athletic' gana el concurso de Pintxos
Alberto Bocos a su llegada al Athletic Hiria | Audio Boulevard
Cine erótico para mujeres | Cabaret Desire | La Noche Despierta
Audio MQP | 'MQP' entrevista al neuropsicólogo Javier Tirapu
Retransmisión del gol que marcó Guarrotxena en la Final de Copa del 84
Los protagonistas del vídeo "Athletic Club; Bizi, sentitu" | Boulevard
Ganbara 25/05: Con Mikel Moreno, Iñaki Iriondo y Juan Mari Gastaca
Pirelli desnuda a las mujeres más bellas para su calendario 2012
Vídeo de final Copa del Rey | Dispositivo especial en Bilbao
Vídeo Robos en Bizkaia | Aumentan robos sin reventar cerraduras
Video de Euskadi Directo | Si gana el Athletic... ¡cena gratis!
Video de ED | 'Rollito Athletic' gana el concurso de Pintxos
Video de los archivos secretos de Christopher Lee | La Noche De
Vídeo de casos de bebés robados | Reconstrucción del caso de Itsasondo
Video de Euskadi Directo | Arrasate es anti 'puerta a puerta'
Vídeo del himno del Athletic | Final partido Athletic-Manchester
La reforma laboral sufre 26 modificaciones antes de ser aprobada
Vídeo del Athletic y Barcelona | La final de Copa llega al Congreso
Cientos de ultraderechistas se manifiestan en defensa de la unidad de España
Modelos casi desnudas y con el cuerpo pintado en el desfile de Cosano
Vídeo de Puyol y Xavi con la ikurriña en la Final de Copa del Rey
Vídeo de final de Copa | Cuadrilla de Getxo en limusina a Madrid
Vídeo: Ánimo al Athletic para la final de Copa 2012 con el Barcelona
Vídeo Final Copa del Rey | Aficionados del Athletic, rumbo a Madrid
Vídeo pitada final Copa del Rey | Declaraciones de Esperanza Aguirre
Vídeo Los aficionados del Athletic tiñen de rojiblanco las calles de Madrid
Vídeo del Athletic | En Harley Davidson desde Mañaria hasta Madrid
Pirelli desnuda a las mujeres más bellas para su calendario 2012
Vídeo del Athletic | Spot de San Miguel para la final de Copa del Rey
Athletic-Barça: Declaraciones de Guardiola | Final de la Copa del Rey
Vídeo de final Copa del Rey | Dispositivo especial en Bilbao
Video de Euskadi Directo | Si gana el Athletic... ¡cena gratis!
Julio Medem presenta un largometraje de siete cortos sobre La Habana
Museo de Bellas Artes de Álava recupera la obra de Pablo Uranga
Vídeo de La Noche De | Nikole Kidman sufrió un accidente en un rodaje
Vídeo de exposición de David Hockney en el Guggenheim Bilbao
Vídeo de conciertos de Doctor Deseo y The Uski's en San Mamés
Lauroba taldearen bideoklip berria: ''Sua gara'' | Bideoklipa
Vídeo de Jennifer López | Wisin & Yandel: "Follow the Leader"
Black or white abestiaren bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa
We go together abestiaren bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa
Party Rock Anthem kantuaren bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa
Sirokaren Musikaz gozatu abestiaren bideoklipa | Bideoklip lehiaketa
Girls just wanna have fun abestiaren bideoklipa | Bideoklipa
Mama Luba abestiaren bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa
La mandanga abestiaren bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa
Thriller abestiaren bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa
Serebro taldearen bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa
Paradise kantuaren bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa
Mama Luba kantaren bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa
Serebroren Mama Luba bideoklipa | Gaztearen Bideoklip Lehiaketa