Suspects linked to Carlos the Jackal arrested in Greece

Police in Greece have arrested a number of people allegedly linked to the country's oldest and biggest terror group, the Popular Revolutionary Struggle (ELA), which is blamed for scores of bombings and two killings over the past two decades.

The operation followed months of investigation into the files of the former East German secret police, the Stasi, which monitored links between Greek nationals and the international terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as Carlos the Jackal.

The arrests began in the early hours of yesterday when Angeletos Kanas, mayor of the Aegean island of Kimolos, was detained in Athens. He had travelled to the Greek capital to consult his lawyer after reports appeared in the media of his imminent detention. Mr Kanas, an electronics expert, is suspected of being the group's chief bomb maker.

A second unidentified man and one woman were also detained, according to state-run Net television, with more arrests expected. A government spokesman said: "We must be patient but we have arrived at the most decisive phase of the investigation."

ELA, a radical leftist group, committed more than 200 bombings and two political assassinations between 1975 and 1995, and police sources claim offshoots of the group including May 1 and Revolutionary Cells were responsible for up to nine other murders.

ELA was thought to number 80 operatives with up to 200 support personnel at its peak in the 1980s before disbanding seven years ago.

Last year the Greek government claimed victory over another urban guerrilla group, November 17, whose members had eluded arrest for nearly three decades and posed a serious threat to the 2004 Olympic Games.

Police arrested 18 suspected members of November 17, which is blamed for killing 23 people since 1975, including prominent Greek industrialists and British, American and Turkish diplomats. The alleged members of the ultra-nationalist group are due to go on trial on 3 March. Both groups emerged after the fall of the military junta in 1974 and are thought to be closely linked.

Anti-terrorist police have been closes to a breakthrough against ELA for months, according to press leaks, after evidence of contacts between Carlos and three Greek operatives known as "Philippe", "Andrew" and "George" was found in Stasi archives.

The left-wing opposition party Synaspismos attacked Greece's socialist government for a "campaign of misinformation" before the operation.