Spain arrests 36 from youth group linked to ETA

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have arrested 36 members of Segi, an outlawed youth group linked to the Basque guerrilla organisation ETA, in a sweep which is still underway, court officials said on Tuesday.

The operation was carried out across the Basque Country and Navarra, northern Spain, on the orders of a High Court judge.

Leaders of Segi, which was declared a terrorist group by the Supreme Court in 2007, were among those arrested, the officials said.

ETA was founded 50 years ago during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and has killed more than 800 people in its campaign for an independent Basque Country.

Security forces believe it has been substantially weakened by hundreds of arrests in recent years in France and Spain but that it is still capable of fighting.

Spanish police were not immediately available to comment.

(Reporting by Itziar Reinlien; Writing by Tracy Rucinski; editing by David Stamp)