French police arrested the second most senior member of the Basque separatist group Eta and two other suspected militants today, Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said.
Police arrested Harriet Aguirre, suspected lieutenant to Eta leader Garikoitz Aspiazu, or 'Txeroki', Mr Alonso said.
"[Aguirre is] accused of being the head of Eta's cells and the lieutenant, that is to say the number two, of the military structure after Txeroki," he added. He is also accused of killing Spanish deputy mayor Froilan Elespe in 2001.
Mr Alonso identified one of the other two men arrested as senior Eta member Idoia Mendizabal. The third suspected member of the group had not been identified.
After months of speculation about a possible ceasefire from Eta - which demands a state carved out of Spain and France - and repeated calls for talks from the group, militants have set off two bombs in Spain in the last 10 days.
Eta has killed some 850 people in its four-decade campaign for independence.