ETA political leader detained in France (Roundup)

Oct 19, 2009, 12:24 GMT

Madrid - French police Monday detained one of the suspected leaders of the militant Basque separatist group ETA, Spanish police sources said.

Aitor Elizaran Aguilar, 30, who was described as ETA's political leader, was held in Carnac in the north-west. He was travelling in a stolen car with another ETA suspect, Oihana San Vicente, 32, who was also detained.

The two suspects were armed, police said.

Elizaran Aguilar, who is a former activist of the pro-ETA youth group Segi, is believed to have replaced ETA's political leader Javier Lopez Pena, alias 'Thierry', after his arrest in May 2008.

Elizaran was one of the close associates of Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu, alias 'Txeroki', who headed ETA until his arrest in November 2008.

Elizaran Aguilar was responsible for giving instructions to radical separatist political activists in Spain's Basque region, according to police sources.

San Vicente, who is on Spain's most wanted terrorists' list, was also thought to be a member of ETA's political structure.

The arrests were based on a joint investigation by French and Spanish police.

ETA has suffered successive blows, with Elizaran its fifth political or military leader to be detained over 18 months. Seventy-seven ETA suspects have been held in Spain and France so far this year.

ETA, which is held responsible for more than 820 killings since 1968, seeks an independent Basque state carved out of northern Spain and southern France.

ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.