General claims ETA trains rebels

Bogota - Members of Spain's Basque separatist group ETA have trained Colombian rebels in terrorist techniques, a Colombian general…

Bogota - Members of Spain's Basque separatist group ETA have trained Colombian rebels in terrorist techniques, a Colombian general said yesterday.

"I believe the National Liberation Army has received training from the ETA in planting car bombs, and I don't rule out the possibility that this organization is present right now in Colombia, training insurgents in the use of explosives," said Gen Martin Carreno, commander of the army's fifth brigade.

The 4,500-strong National Liberation Army "uses the same system as the ETA to hide car bombs in vehicles and cause major harm to civilians," Gen Carreno told Radio Caracol.