By Reuters

Police in southwest France have arrested the leader of Basque separatist group ETA who had been on the run for more than 20 years, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

Francisco Javier Lopez Pena, also known as Thierry, and three other ETA leaders were arrested in a raid in the city centre of the southwestern city of Bordeaux at around 2100 GMT on Tuesday, a police source said.

French Interior Minister Michele Alliot Marie said in a statement that Lopez Pena was a “historic figure” of ETA who had been sought after for over 20 years. A Spanish government spokesman said the arrest was a “heavy blow” against ETA.

Mr Lopez Pena and the other three ETA leaders – Jon Salaberria, Igor Suberbiola and Ainhoa Ozaeta – did not resist arrest, the police source said.

Hand guns and at least one computer were seized in the raid on the city centre apartment.

“It’s a coup for Franco-Spanish cooperation and it’s a coup after the recent attacks,” the Spanish spokesman said.

He added that Ms Ozaeta, the only woman arrested, had read a ceasefire declaration by ETA in 2006 that lead to peace talks with the government, which broke them off later after the rebels killed two people in a bomb attack on Madrid airport.

The Spanish government has blamed ETA for a May 14 car bombing which killed a policeman in the Basque region.

ETA has killed more than 800 people in four decades in its fight for independence for the Basque Country in northern Spain and southern France.

Polls show most Basques do not seem to want independence, although the leader of Spain’s Basque regional government Juan Jose Ibarretxe is defying the Spanish government with plans to hold a referendum on whether to begin a debate on ties with Spain.

More than 750 suspected ETA members have been arrested since 2000, and the group is believed to have been seriously weakened.