Key Basque militant arrested

One of the key operational leaders of the Basque militant group ETA has been arrested, French and Spanish officials said Monday.

Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina was detained in the French town of Cauterets near the Spanish border, a Spanish Interior Ministry spokeswoman told The New York Times.

A woman believed to be a member of ETA also was detained with Aspiazu.

The spokeswoman said Aspiazu was suspected of shooting two Spanish policemen in the French coastal town of Capbreton last year. He also is suspected to have ordered the December 2006 bombing of a parking lot at Madrid's Barajas International Airport in which two people died. That incident ended peace talks between the Spanish government and ETA, the spokeswoman said.

Officials said the arrest was the result of a joint operation between French and Spanish police. The French Interior Ministry said the arrests raised the number of ETA suspects detained on French soil in 2007 to 31, the Times reported.

Guns, documents and computers were seized at the house where Aspiazu was arrested, the Web site for the Spanish newspaper El Pais said, but the ministry spokeswoman could not confirm the information.