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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 24, 1993                   TAG: 9302240239
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: PARIS                                LENGTH: Short

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BASQUE LEADER'S ARREST PREDICTED TO END EFFORT

French and Spanish authorities say they believe they have dealt a virtual knockout blow to Basque separatist guerrillas after capturing the head of their terrorist operations and seizing a vast underground arms factory.

The arrest of Rafael Caride Simon in Toulouse, France, over the weekend was hailed by police as a crowning success in the effort to eradicate one of Europe's most resilient secret armies.

French and Spanish officials say cooperation between their anti-terror squads is close to shutting down a 25-year campaign of bombings and assassinations in the name of independence for nearly 3 million Basques along the French-Spanish frontier.

Simon is considered to be the mastermind of some of the most grisly Basque terror attacks, including a 1987 car bombing of a Barcelona supermarket that killed 21.

- The Washington Post

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