Spanish PM hails 'Eta' arrests

Eta blamed for car bomb in Gexto, northern Spain

The arrest of the reputed leader of the armed Basque separatist group Eta has dealt the militant organisation a serious setback, Spain's prime minister said.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told reporters the arrest of Francisco Javier Lopez Pena in France along with three other suspected senior members of Eta was "certainly another important step in the victory of democracy against terror".

The arrests by Spanish and French police in a Bordeaux apartment came as Eta wages a sustained campaign of bombings after ending a ceasefire in late 2006.

Mr Zapatero said all four detainees had senior positions in Eta. The raid, he said, "has delivered a severe blow to the leadership of the terrorist group Eta".

Two more people were arrested, one in Spain and a French citizen in France who was linked to the Bordeaux apartment, he said. French police said handguns and materials that could be used for making bombs were found in the apartment.

Since Eta ended a ceasefire in December 2006, Spanish and French police have arrested dozens of alleged members of the organisation.

The latest arrests came amid a renewed campaign of attacks by Eta.

The group was blamed for killing a policeman in a car bombing last week in a Basque village. It claimed another car bombing on Sunday near Bilbao -- the latest in more than 20 attacks by the organisation since it called off the ceasefire after peace talks with the government failed.

Lopez Pena was instrumental in Eta's decision to end the truce, said a Spanish police official.

Eta is blamed for killing more than 825 people since the late 1960s in its campaign for an independent Basque state in territory straddling northern Spain and southern France.