Madrid , Spain ( CNN ) -- Spanish police arrested 10 people early Tuesday for suspected links to the outlawed Basque separatist group ETA , just a week after the group 's latest cease-fire announcement , an interior ministry statement said . The Spanish government - wary of ETA 's unilateral cease-fire because the armed militants have broken previous cease-fires - has said it would not cease police operations against the group blamed for 800 deaths in its long fight for Basque independence . Nine of the pre-dawn arrests on Tuesday came in Navarra , the northern region with Basque roots whose capital is Pamplona , the statement said . The other arrest was in the nearby Basque province of Alava . Eight men and two women were arrested . Six of the suspects are thought to be involved with Ekin , a shadowy group which Spain 's National Court in 2007 ruled was `` part of the heart '' of ETA and not a mere satellite . Spanish media reports said police believe the suspects were trying to rebuild Ekin , whose tasks include passing directives from ETA 's leadership to a string of shadowy support groups . The other four suspects , including the two women , are suspected of involvement in pro-ETA propaganda in a group called Askatasuna , also in Navarra province , the statement said . ETA on January 10 beefed up its cease-fire in effect since last September , saying it would now be `` permanent , general and verifiable . '' But that fell short of demands by the Socialist government and most opposition parties that ETA unconditionally declare a permanent end to the violence and commitment to lay down its arms . On January 11 , police arrested a suspected top computer programmer for ETA in France . He is accused of playing a key role in the group 's logistics by designing the computer codes that operatives used to secretly communicate , Spain 's Interior Ministry said on Jan. 11 . ETA is listed as a terrorist group by United States and the European Union . ETA declared a `` permanent '' cease-fire in March 2006 , but while the government was exploring a peace process , an ETA car bomb at Madrid 's airport in December 2006 killed two men and caused extensive damage to the airport 's newest terminal . Since then , the government and opposition parties have been generally united in their stance that further ETA cease-fires would be insufficient and that the only statement needed was ETA 's commitment to give up its fight . There are about 800 ETA convicts or suspects in prisons in Spain and in France , ETA 's traditional rearguard base , the Spanish government has said .
The government has said it will not cease operations against ETA despite cease-fire . The suspects are thought to be involved with Ekin . Spain 's National Court calls Ekin `` part of the heart '' of ETA . ETA is listed as a terrorist group by United States and the European Union .