This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/7772142.stm

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
France arrests 'new Eta leader' France arrests 'new Eta leader'
(about 1 hour later)
Police in France say they have arrested three suspected members of the Basque separatist group Eta. The man suspected of being the new military chief of the Basque separatist group Eta has been arrested in France, police say.
One of those detained has been identified as the group's new military chief, say French officials. He was arrested along with two others near Gerde in south-west France, carrying guns and fake identity papers, French police said.
The former military head, Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, also known as "Txeroki", was arrested in southern France last month. Spain's interior ministry said one of those held was Aitzol Irionda, thought to be Eta's new military chief.
Eta's four-decade campaign to set up an independent state has led to more than 800 deaths. The arrests follow last week's murder of a businessman in the Basque region.
It was the first attack linked to Eta since the arrest of its former military head, Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, also known as "Txeroki", last month.
The Spanish authorities will portray these arrests as further evidence that Eta is steadily being weakened, the BBC's Steve Kingstone in Madrid says.
But the group still has the potential to kill, and has pledged to continue its campaign of violence with a view to securing an independent Basque state, he adds.
Cross-border co-operation
Once a safe haven for Basque militants, France began arresting Eta suspects after the group called off a 15-month-old ceasefire in June 2007.
At least 36 people who were either Eta members or linked to the group have been arrested in France since the beginning of the year, according to interior ministry figures.
France and Spain have stepped up co-operation to crack down on the group since a special accord was signed in January 2008 allowing Spanish agents to operate in south-western France.
Eta began its violent campaign for the independence of traditional Basque territories in northern Spain and south-west France in the late years of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in the 1960s.