French police arrested the suspected military leader of the Basque separatist movement Eta in the southwestern town of Bayonne in a morning raid today, police said.
Spanish national Mikel Kabikoitz Karrera Sarobe, known as Ata, was detained along with another man and a woman belonging to the group at an apartment, they said.
A fourth suspected Eta member, of French nationality, was arrested at the same time in the village of Urrugne, close to the coastal town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in French Basque country.
Eta guerrillas active in Spain often take refuge in southwest France, areas of which they claim as part of the Basque homeland. The group has killed more than 850 people in Spain in recent decades.
Police said Ata was identified on the basis of photographs and that his age was 37. He has been considered the military leader of Etasince the arrest in February of his predecessor Ibon Gogeascoechea.
The arrests were made after a joint investigation by theFrench interior security services with the Spanish Guardia Civil and Spanish intelligence service.
According to the Spanish Interior Ministry, Spanish and French police have arrested 50 Eta members this year. The group is suspected of being behind the murder in March of French policeman Jean-Serge Nerin - the first French security official to be killed in by Eta.
Reuters