French police said last night they had arrested a suspected military commander of armed Basque separatist group ETA who escaped from custody in France almost a year ago.
Ibon Fernandez Iradi was arrested at 6.30 p.m. local time in the southwestern town of Mont-de-Marsan with two more suspected ETA members, a police spokesman said.
Police were still trying to establish the identity of the other man and woman detained, he added.
Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes hailed the arrests as a blow to ETA , western Europe's most active guerrilla force.
"One of those detained was the ETA leader Fernandez Iradi, known as 'Susper'," Mr Acebes told reporters in Madrid. "This 'Susper' . . . was the head of its operations, the head of its gunmen and assassins."
After his escape, Fernandez Iradi had swiftly rejoined the leadership of ETA , Mr Acebes said.
The armed group has killed nearly 850 people since 1968 in a bloody campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France. It is listed as a terrorist organisation by Spain, the United States and the European Union.
Fernandez Iradi escaped from police headquarters in Bayonne near the Spanish border in December 2002 a few days after his arrest.
The incident was a major embarrassment for French police and five officers were suspended. Spanish state media reported at the time that he escaped through a ventilation shaft in his cell and his absence was not detected for six hours.
Fernandez Iradi was suspected of recruiting for ETA and teaching members how to use guns and bombs. Spain has also accused him of playing a role in at least one murder and participating in several failed attacks.