BBC News Online: World: Europe

French arrest top Basque ETA man

Police in south-west France have arrested a man described as the top military leader of the Spanish Basque separatist movement, ETA.

They say they arrested the man -- Javier Garcia Gaztelu -- also known as Txapote -- as he ate lunch at a cafe in the French Basque town of Anglet, near the Spanish border.

Spanish judicial sources say Mr Garcia Gaztelu is suspected of involvement in the killing of several politicians in the Spanish Basque country.

The Spanish interior minister, Jaime Mayor Oreja, said the arrest showed the strength of cooperation between Spain and France in the fight against terrorism. ETA has killed some eight-hundred people in the past thirty years.

It has been blamed for a car bomb in the Spanish city of San Sebastian on Thursday which killed two people.

The local councillor it was apparently intended for is among four injured.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service