French police hold ETA leader

FRENCH police have arrested a suspected military commander of the armed Basque separatist group ETA who escaped from custody in France almost a year ago.

Ibon Fernandez Iradi was arrested in the south-western town of Mont-de -Marsan with two more suspected ETA members, a police spokesman said. Police were still trying to establish the identity of the other man and woman detained, he added.

Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes hailed the arrests as a blow to ETA.

“One of those detained was the ETA leader Fernandez Iradi, known as Susper,” Mr Acebes told reporters in Madrid. “Susper was the head of its operations. The head of its gunmen and assassins,” he said.

After his escape, Fernandez Iradi had swiftly rejoined the leadership of ETA, Mr Acebes said.

The armed group has killed nearly 850 people since 1968 in a bloody campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and south- western France. It is listed as a terrorist organisation by Spain, the United States and the European Union.

Mr Acebes said Fernandez Iradi and the other male suspect were arrested outside a garage, while the woman was detained in an apartment where police seized arms and forged identity papers.

Fernandez Iradi escaped from police headquarters in Bayonne near the Spanish border in December 2002 a few days after his arrest.

The incident was a major embarrassment for French police and five officers were suspended. Spanish state media reported at the time that he escaped through a ventilation shaft in his cell and his absence was not detected for six hours.

Fernandez Iradi was suspected of recruiting for ETA and teaching members how to use guns and bombs. Spain has also accused him of playing a role in at least one murder and participating in several failed attacks.

Spanish Interior Ministry officials have said papers found during his capture last year have led to dozens of arrests.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who survived an ETA attack while opposition leader in 1995, has made the fight against the group his top priority. So far this year, 175 suspected ETA members or collaborators have been detained.