Suspected ETA commando leader arrested in France

[David]

AP


MADRID, Spain – French and Spanish police arrested the reputed leader of ETA's commando units on Monday — dealing a devastating blow to the armed Basque separatist group.

Mikel de Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, 35, is suspected of taking part in several killings, including the December shooting deaths of two Spanish guardsmen in France, according to French and Spanish officials.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Aspiazu Rubina — known by the alias "Txeroki" (pronounced cher-OH-kee) — has been the operational chief of ETA's hit squads and bombing units for several years.

"With this arrest, ETA has suffered a severe blow in its organization and capability. Today, ETA is weaker," Zapatero said.

Aspiazu Rubina was being held in France, but he was expected to be handed over to Spanish authorities soon.

The armed group has been fighting since the late 1960s to create an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwest France. The violence has claimed more than 800 lives.

Aspiazu Rubina's arrest was the most significant since police detained the ETA's alleged overall leader, Francisco Javier Lopez Pena, in May near Bordeaux, France.

Spanish media describe Aspiazu Rubina as one of ETA's most-wanted members, a violent hard-liner who opposed the ETA's cease-fire of March 2006 and its subsequent peace talks with the government. That truce ended in December 2006 when ETA detonated a car bomb at Madrid's Barajas airport, killing two people.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed Aspiazu Rubina's arrest Monday as a sign of cooperation between French and Spanish police.

French counterterrorism agents working with Spanish police detained Aspiazu Rubina in a pre-dawn raid in the French border town of Cauterets, French police said. A Spanish woman was also detained, but neither French police nor Spanish officials identified her by name.

Police seized a handgun, documents and a computer from the ETA suspect's hideout, a French police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Zapatero said Aspiazu Rubina was suspected of taking part directly in the shooting deaths of two Spanish civil guard officers while they were conducting an intelligence operation in December in the coastal French town of Capbreton.

"This is a big step forward," Zapatero said. "The terrorist gang ETA is going to suffer very, very deeply from this blow."