The suspected military leader of the Basque separatist group ETA has been arrested in France during a raid in Bayonne, police said Thursday.
Anti-terrorist police said Mikel Karrera Sarobe, on Spain's most-wanted list, and other suspected ETA members were in custody after the raid in the
southwestern French city, Radio France Internationale reported.
Spanish media identified the other detainees as Arkaitz Agirregabiria, Benoit Aramendia and Maite Aranadle Ijurco, The Times of London reported.
Sarobe and Agirregabiria are wanted in the death of a French police officer during a shoot-out in Paris in March. Officials said Sarobe is also wanted for a series of bomb attacks in Zaragoza and Navarre.
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba called the arrests a "very significant" operation, Radio France Internationale reported.
Greater cooperation between Spain and France during the past two years has resulted in the arrest of five ETA leaders in France, which the group has used as a base to initiate cross-border raids, officials said.
ETA, listed by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization, has waged a decades-long campaign for independence for the
Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France.