FRANCE:FRANCISCO JAVIER López Peña, the alleged military leader of Basque nationalist group Eta, was arrested late on Tuesday night in a Bordeaux apartment.
Known by his nom de guerre of "Thierry", López Peña (49) was detained by French police along with three other top Eta members, named as Ainhoa Ozaeta, Jon Salaberria and Igor Suberbiola, all on police wanted lists.
Police seized four pistols, ammunition, explosives, forged identity papers and a large quantity of documents and computer files. They also found two stolen cars with false registration plates nearby, prepared for use as car bombs.
A former mayor of the Basque town of Andoain was arrested in Spain yesterday and a French citizen who is believed to have rented the flat to the suspected terrorists was taken in for questioning by French police.
Spanish interior minister Alfredo Rubalcaba interrupted a visit to west Africa on receiving the news. He said the operation was the culmination of more than a year of investigation by Spanish and French security forces which had begun even before Eta called off its ceasefire in June last year.
It is believed that the decision to make the arrests this week was taken after two bomb attacks on police barracks in Spain in the past 10 days, when a civil guard was killed.
Before boarding an aircraft to return to Madrid, Mr Rubalcaba stressed the importance of the arrests. "This is not just one more operation. We have reason to believe that López Peña is one of the most powerful and influential members of Eta," he said.
López Peña has lived in exile in Spain and Latin America for many years.
He took over leadership of Eta in 2004, following the arrest of the previous leader, Mikel Antza, and in March 2006 declared a "permanent" ceasefire.
But he also ordered the bombing at Madrid airport in December 2006, while the truce was still officially in place, to "punish" the Spanish government for breaking off talks.
The hooded woman who announced both the start and the formal end of the ceasefire six months after the airport bombing was Ainhoa Ozaeta (34), one of those arrested on Tuesday night.
She was a member of Eta's political front, the banned Herri Batasuna (HB). Ozaeta and the second detainee, Jon Salaberria, a former HB member of the Basque parliament, were believed to have taken part in the talks with the government during the ceasefire.
Although no one doubts the importance of the arrests, this is not the first time that authorities have declared the "decapitation" of the Eta leadership, and it should not be forgotten that over the years the organisation has regrown many new heads.